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Contact: Brad Gemeinhart 918.584.2481 ext. 418
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The U.S. Jaycees and Riley’s Toys Form Partnership

TULSA, OKLAHOMA – The United States Junior Chamber (Jaycees) is pleased to announce the formation of a special partnership with “Riley’s Toys” in a nationwide effort.

Riley’s Toys Foundation is founded on an idea from then four-year-old Riley Hebbard. In February 2009 she watched a news show that featured children in an African school that had no toys. Riley could not believe that these children had only ‘sticks and dirt’ to play with and decided to send her toys to them. She enlisted her preschool friends to do the same thing. She and her parents then added 8 collection sites at businesses they visit regularly in central PA.

The chapters of The U.S. Jaycees organization will use a similar collection model. They will set up collection sites within their communities accepting new and like-new toy donations that are non-violent and not battery operated. These toys will be sent to Riley’s Toys Foundation, who has partnered with World Vision for toy distribution in Africa.

“The Jaycees will help me get a toy to every kid in Africa and that would be awesome” says Riley Hebbard, 5 years old. The U.S. Jaycees will officially launch this partnership at their annual conference beginning September 24, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.

Riley’s Toys Foundation will make available a ‘How-To’ Kit for The U.S. Jaycees to help the project run smoothly in communities across the country. Flyers, posters, frequently asked questions, and media releases will be available. The Foundation will include all donation points on its website www.RileysToys.org so donors simply click on their state on a national map and all the collection sites will appear.

“A project of this nature truly takes a community to become reality, and we couldn’t have gotten this far without our partners” says Rhonda Hebbard, Riley’s mom. “World Vision is our logistics partner; they get the toys into the hands of African children while our website and social media networking component is powered by netSpray. Without strong partnerships like this and the support of The U.S. Jaycees, a project of this scale would not succeed.”

The United States Junior Chamber (Jaycees) gives young people between the ages of 18 and 40 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections. For more information please visit www.usjaycees.org