Today we’d like to introduce you to Emilee Johnson.
Hi Emilee, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am currently the executive director and I am the granddaughter of the founders, Alton and Cheryl Thacker. I have been a part of Tiny Tim’s from the very beginning. I helped them make some of their first toy cars and first quilts and gather the first eye glasses that got us started over 30 years ago. 20 years ago my grandpa came to me and asked me if I could help him write some letters for grants and outreach. Of course I said yes. He then had someone want to email him something. He asked me what an email was and if he had one. So I started an email for him. I would answer them for him so he didn’t have to figure it out. He would ask if he should learn to do that too, but I always told him that he should keep making the toy cars and I would help with the emails. I was in college and could help. A while later someone wanted his web site to see more information. So he asked what that was and if we could have one. So I figured out how to create a simple website and help him with that. For many years I continued to occasionally make toy cars and quilts and also write letters and help with administrative stuff. Eventually I went to graduate school for Organizational Leadership, with the emphasis and intent that I would always help with Nonprofits somewhere. I didn’t think I would run Tiny Tim in particular, but I loved what I did there and loved to be helping. I assumed some of his children would eventually take it, but circumstances were such that I could volunteer my time to help him and eventually knew so much about it, that when it came time to have an Executive Director and eventually need someone to take it for him, I was the one that was ready and able.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes, fairly smooth. Everything just transitioned as there was a need. I got started as a volunteer and fell in love with the work and the people and my grandparents over the years. My grandpa and I had a really good relationship and as new things came up he and I would chat and see what was needed. It grew little by little until he knew he needed to let it go and asked if I could take it on. We had put things in place as we grew year over year and I was with him through it all and now have over 80 grandmas and grandpas who help make the work go forward.
My grandpa tells people the story of how I went to Mexico on a trip with Tiny Tim’s over Christmas. We spent a week passing out clothes, shoes, quilts, food and more. At the end of the week we had an almost empty trailer and so we just stopped at houses on the route out of Mexico. We went to one little house with several children. All of them in shabby clothes and no shoes. The mother had no shoes either. we fitted everyone, but couldn’t find anything for her. But she looked about my size, so I tried my shoes on her and went home barefoot. Even as a college student I knew I had more than she did and could give her that. My grandpa told people that that was how he knew I could take over for him and keep this work going. It’s all about the passion for helping people where you can and when you can.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Tiny Tim’s Foundation for Kids?
We are a nonprofit organization that makes toy cars, quilts, clothes, school and hygiene kits and more for people in need. My grandparents started the organization over 30 years ago. It’s all done by volunteers out of scrap or donated materials. I am the executive director that keeps the foundation going.
We are known for making almost 2 million wooden toy cars. The toys and clothes and blankets are all made by volunteers. We send them all over the world with other organizations mainly. They go in big shipping containers, or just a few in a suitcase. We have volunteers from all walks of life and vulnerable communities, giving them a place to give and serve and belong.
It’s always surprising to know how many people know about us, when I say our name or introduce myself. People know us by the cars, or the workers or both. They’ve seen us or served with us or received a toy. No matter what aspect, serving or receiving, both are received with the same joy and acknowledgement.
What sets us apart is that we aren’t just making toys, but we are doing it with purpose through volunteers who need and love to serve. We like to say, we take wood that would be wasted, someone’s time that would be wasted, and make little toy cars so a young person’s mind won’t be wasted. The toys are made from scrap wood that would end up in the landfill if we didn’t repurpose it. Pallets and pallets of it. And they’re made by volunteers including, widows and widowers who report less loneliness, special needs adults who love having a place to belong and give back, incarcerated individuals who are serving others, sometimes for the first time in their lives, and youth who need to learn to serve others with purpose. All of them gaining something for themselves, while they make a toy for the 500 million children in the world who need them.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
As a kid we would race home from school in the winter and immediately ditch the backpacks and grab our skates and head out to the pond next door. I have 6 siblings and most of us would play together every day. There would be at least 4 of us to do 2 on 2 hockey on the pond. It was a yucky pond so the ice wasn’t great. We would hurry and scrape snow off it every time it snowed to keep it clear. We didn’t have equipment, just cheap skates, pucks and sticks. We had bruises upon bruises from hitting the ice, but we had so much fun. Every day until dark, which isn’t a lot of time in the winter in Utah.
Pricing:
- $2 builds one toy car
- $100 builds 50 toy cars
- $1,000 pays utilities for the machines and building for a month
- $6,000 buys a batch of screws to put the wheels on
- $10,000 buys us 2 months of operation and everything we need to keep going.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tinytimstoys.org
- Instagram: tinytimsfoundationforkids
- Facebook: tinytimsfoundationforkids
- LinkedIn: TinyTim’sFoundationforKids
- Youtube: tinytimsfoundationforkids
