It all started with a crazy idea…

While deployed in Kosovo I had been doing dismounted patrols with my squad and I noticed in the areas that we worked that there were no toy stores.  The children in the area would ask us for soccer balls and they would eventually be stolen by other kids.  I was thinking of an idea where a kid could have a small toy that they could hide if needed to.  Then it hit me.  I have always had a love of How Wheels cars as a kid.  So I thought why not try that?   I went back to the PX (military store) on our base and asked them if they could order Hot Wheels cars.  We worked out a weekly schedule to purchase the cars.  I would then go on my dismounted patrol with the Hot Wheels cars in the pockets of my rucksack.   As I saw the kids I would give them a Hot Wheels car.  The kids LOVED them!   I did that for the remainder of my tour. 

When I was later deployed to Iraq, I wanted to continue my personal mission of handing out Hot Wheels to the kids.  The legacy of SGT Hot Wheels took root.

Flash forward back state side, while stationed in Ft. Sill in Oklahoma, I had a slight struggle with PTSD.  A friend talked me into going to a car show to show off a car I had built. I noticed the kids at the car show bored by just walking around.  The light bulb hit!!! 

I begged my buddy to loan me his car and told him I had a crazy idea I wanted to try.  I went to the local Target and Walmart and bought every Hot Wheels car I could find.  I brought them back to the car show and started handing them out to the kids when they came to our area.  The parents and my friend were confused, and I explained to them how I did that when I was overseas.  They asked me what I wanted to be paid for this and I told them a handshake would do nicely. 

The next thing I know, the kids were ecstatic and showing each other their cars.  The important thing I learned was that a child’s smile will go a long way,and a nugget of that car show was embedded in their head.  That night I slept like a baby with no bad dreams and woke up like my old self, ready to embrace the day and I was excited to go back to the car show to continue what I was doing.