Schools

Libertyville Student Donates Birthday Presents to Charity

Copeland Manor student Scott Criel donated all of his birthday presents to A Safe Place, a charity that helps women in need.

For Copeland Manor student Scott Criel, the hardest toys to donate were LEGO sets he received for his seventh birthday.

He said he wanted to play with them but he decided to “just let it go.”

“It would make a lot of kids happy and it would make me happy,” Criel said of his decision to donate presents to A Safe Place, which provides shelter, counseling and legal advice for women who are victims of domestic violence.

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He dropped off all 19 of the presents he received and remembers seeing some broken bikes and a plastic table where kids could play.

“I didn’t see any toys,” Criel said. “I only saw my toys.”

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Copeland Manor School Principal Erik Youngman said he was proud of Criel.

"It's pretty neat to have a first-grader come up with this type of idea, especially at a young age," Youngman said.

Criel later clarified and says his friend donated toys and “that’s where my mom got the idea.”

Planning A Unique Birthday Party

Criel’s mom, Jenny, says the family discussed the idea in December when they were planning for Scott’s birthday party in January. She was surprised at how quickly Scott agreed to the idea.

“I didn’t know if we would ever agree that it would be a good idea, I think we talked about it a couple of days and he agreed,” Jenny said. “He has a lot of toys and this was one way for us to share with others.”

Jenny says it was important for Scott to learn appreciation, gratitude and the value of giving back to the community.

“I think when you learn it young it’s so much easier to carry that throughout your life,” she said.

Importance of Helping Others

For other families interested in donating, Jenny recommends creating an opportunity for children to meet with people from the charity so that children can understand where their donations are going and how it will help others.

“I feel very proud that he continues to want to donate his presents, I think it’s easy to say you want to donate, but it was a lot harder when the presents were all staring at him in the face. There was never a situation where he said ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ he’s been very happy that he did it.”

Scott agreed with his mom and said he would consider joining forces with his younger brother, who shares a birthday close to his, to donate all their toys next year.

“I think we’ve already laid the groundwork for his brother and probably do similar types of things so they can understand what it means to make a difference for others,” Jenny said.

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