Child's legacy lives on with annual toy drive

For the past several years, Rio Rancho parents Patricia and Anthony Dimas have hosted an annual toy drive in honor of their son. This year makes seven.

Elijah-Jay Dimas passed at the age of 10 in 2018 after a 4 1/2-year battle with Ewing sarcoma, a bone cancer.

Since then, his parents have hosted a toy drive each year around his birthday and have collected 6,870 toys.

This year, their goal is collect 1,500 toys.

"The more we can give, the better for all the kids because every time they have to go through something, they have to get a surgery or procedure or a scan for kids, it's a little better just knowing that they're going to get that toy at the end," Patricia Dimas said.

Although the the first toy drive took place the summer after Elijah passed, he started the tradition himself.

"He made a couple of treasure chests when he was a Presbyterian patient. There's one of them — it's still active — it's a treasure chest in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), because that's where the cancer patients are, and also in the fusion center. And he would fill them every month with his allowance money," Dimas said.

"This is who he wanted to be," Dimas explains. "He wanted to give back. And, you know, he was unable to grow up and become who he wanted to be in this world. So, that's just kind of us doing that for him."

The drive accepts new, unwrapped toys and gift cards. Dimas says that last year, people donated using PayPal and Venmo as well.

"The toys have to be new. They're going to kids with compromised immune systems," Dimas said. She adds they prefer toys other than stuffed animals but can accept them as long as there is a tag.

After the drive, all the toys are sterilized before given to the recipients.

For every toy or gift card with a value of $5 or more, donors will receive a raffle ticket and a lunch plate.

There are more than 20 raffle prizes, including a snack basket, a tattoo gift certificate and more. The grand prize is a grill set.

Raffle items can be donated up until the event, although Dimas does try to implement a deadline. "We love to take anything we can that will help bring in more toys for the kids. I try and keep a deadline of Aug. 1, but it doesn't always work out that way," Dimas laughs.

Looking forward, Dimas says she definitely wants to hold the toy drive for up to 10 years because Elijah was 10.

"It's really difficult on me, as the years go by. This would be his senior year. I'm having a lot of trouble with it. I would love to continue to do this forever for him, but it's really hard. He was our only son. He was our only child," she said.

The toy drive starts at 11 a.m. Aug. 10 at Haynes Park.

The toys and funds will be given to several organizations, including the Children's Cancer Fund of New Mexico, the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and Child Life Programs at Presbyterian and UNMH, Make-A-Wish New Mexico, Ronald McDonald House Albuquerque and more.

Dimas says these are all organizations that touched Elijah in some way.