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Teen Delivers Warmth Again for Holiday Season

WILLIAMSPORT — Some people in Lycoming County will be a whole lot warmer this winter thanks to a boy who has been collecting blankets. Kyle Toner is only ...

WILLIAMSPORT -- Some people in Lycoming County will be a whole lot warmer this winter thanks to a boy who has been collecting blankets.

Kyle Toner is only in middle school, and for the fifth year in a row he is making a difference and helping to keep hundreds of the less fortunate warm.

Toner may be small in stature but he had a big delivery for an organization that helps the less fortunate in Williamsport on Wednesday.

The teen from the Jersey Shore area came with a trunk full of blankets, each one donated because of the boy's concern for others.

"It was very cold out, I said to my parents, what about the people without homes and without heat, it started from there," said Toner.

A portion of the blankets, nearly 300 of them collected this year alone, will be distributed by Shepherd of the Streets in Williamsport, a charity that helps people in need year-round.

"Kyle's donation has been wonderful every year he's done it. It helps us through the Winter," said Morris Smith of the Shepherd of the Streets.

This is the fifth year Kyle and his mom have been donating blankets to charitable causes in the Williamsport area which means he started to do it when he was just eight years old, and he said he is not ready to give it up anytime soon.

"I hope it makes their Christmas better because it's really cold for lots of people out on the streets, and you don't realize how important something like heat is until you don't have it," said Toner.

Every year, Kyle sends out flyers to friends and family, embodying the giving spirit of the holiday season.

In five years he has collected more than 1,000 blankets for the Salvation Army and others.

The way Kyle's mom sees it, it's a good lesson for kids to learn early in life.

"I always try to teach them to appreciate what they have because other people aren't so fortunate, it's nice to give back," said Jodi Toner.

If blankets were not enough, every kids blanket this year comes with a children's book.

Kyle's blanket drive continues into next month.

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