Rising Stars: Meet Alton Thacker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alton Thacker.

Hi Alton, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
Tiny Tim’s Foundation for Kids began over 26 years ago. My sweetheart and I were on a service project with an ophthalmologist in Mexico. We had a layover at an airport which provided us an opportunity to talk with some other volunteers.

They lived in Mexico and we became fast friends. They described the need for their city and the surrounding cities. Soon we were coming into Mexico often and helping them with various needs. We built 2 hospitals, a physical therapy center, a community center, and a retirement home with 6 beds.

We took doctors down to operate on their eyes and their clubbed feet. We started a Christmas program where we would bring donated items to them, and purchase food at their grocery stores that we would give alongside it. Each of these memories is its own story.

This couple we worked with had adopted a little boy with Cerebral Palsy. His name was Tim. He is who we named our foundation for. He never walked, ate anything by mouth, or spoke a word. But he had a contagious smile.

One Christmas, we passed out a little toy car someone had made. We saw how it made the little girl’s mind work and how she smiled. We knew we needed to get more cars. We started making them. Just a few hundred for us at first, but over the years it has grown to over 100,000 every year.

We are able to send them all over the world as well as pass them out at the local hospitals and homeless shelters.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been smooth. There were bumps along the way, but each bump led us to where we are now. We started in our garage in Sandy. We could only make a few toys there. The neighbors didn’t like it, but the West Jordan Mayor came to us and said he liked what we were doing and brought us to his own garage.

After a while, we outgrew that so he helped us find another spot. Soon we outgrew that spot too and have moved to a much larger location. If we hadn’t been kicked out of our small garage 20 years ago we might not be doing as many cars as we are today. There is always a blessing. Nothing is so bad that something good can’t come from it.

As a non-profit, we struggle to find sufficient funds to keep us going as well.

We spread the word that it’s only $2 per car to make and if everyone gives a little we can keep making toys and putting smiles on faces. Just when we don’t think we can pay the rent, someone comes through and we can go on for another month.

I’ve had a couple of strokes in the past couple of years and it’s affecting my ability to do as much as I once did. I have wondered if I should just call it good and shut it down.

I look around at all the happy, amazing men and women who are pouring their souls into our mission and think that I would be putting them out of a job too. So once again the solution comes and my granddaughter is going to take over and keep it going.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I was a barber until I retired. I cut hair on the BYU campus until I opened my own Al’s Barber Shop in Orem, UT. Once Tiny Tim was up and going and I was ready to retire I moved right into managing this nonprofit.

It never seemed like I was managing anything. I just worked hard to serve others. If you want to be happy, do something for somebody else.

What does success mean to you?
One of my favorite scriptures says that “Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy.” When you give out a toy to a little child and they smile and anyone watching also smiles, It’s contagious.

That makes you and everyone around you happy. Each of the men and women that are working here are doing so because it makes them happy. So what is joy? It’s something you do to bring happiness to others.

But you have to do something, you cannot find joy if you are idle, joy comes from doing something for somebody else. So if you have joy, you are successful.

Pricing:

• What is the price of a smile? It’s about $2 per car to make. If everyone helps a little then we can keep doing what we do.

Contact Info:

• Email: tinytimsfoundationforkids@gmail.com
• Website: www.tinytimstoys.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinytimsfoundationforkids/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinytimsfoundation
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2SN3MJZPPWne0jSDpcuqjQ