Volunteer adapt toys for kids
John Ilenin has always loved to fix things. As a child he worked on Lionel trains with his father. Sometimes not having the patience to wait for his dad, he learned how electricity worked with trial and error. John is a veteran who served in the Navy. Among many of the ships he served on was the Iwo Jima, the primary recovery ship for the Apollo 13 mission. Upon returning to the workforce, John was a Service Technician for McDonald’s for over thirty years. He recently has retired and now has time to volunteer. John first heard about RePlay for Kids in December 2019. He saw the news coverage of the toy adapting workshop at the Cleveland VA Medical Center. He was very excited to find a charity where he could volunteer and really make a difference with his specific skills. John is an avid cyclist and participated in many rides including GOBA, MS Ride and Coast 2 Coast rides. In 2019, John was in a terrible bike accident while biking the Florida Keys that was life threatening. His discovery of RePlay for Kids is a way for him to give back. RePlay for Kids is thrilled to have him volunteering to adapt toys at his home. Since our workshops have been canceled due to COVID-19, his volunteer efforts allow us to continue building our inventory, so that when we receive requests for adapted toys we are able to ship them to families that need them.
