Caleb Cares 4 Kids continues to expand

ZANESVILLE − When Caleb Silvia was 2 years old, he was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. The autoimmune disorder had him in Nationwide Children's Hospital for a week. He's fine now, but still carries a few memories from his stay.

And they revolve around a toy cart.

"The only thing I really could remember was the time the toy cart would come through," he said. "Basically a cart full of toys and you got to pick a toy off it and take it home."

Caleb, now 19, said when was 8 years old, in 2012, he decided he wanted to do a toy drive for the hospital. His parents, Erica and Andrew, helped him set it up and young Caleb went door to door to collect for the drive.

"That first year we got about 250 toys," he said. "And then we end up doing it pretty much every year and expanding into everything that we do now."

Caleb's mom Erica said her son was always the kind of kid who thought of others. "When he was 8 he said he wanted to give back to someone or something, and Children's Hospital came to mind. We thought this might be a one-time thing and then it just kind of went crazy from there."

From that came Caleb Cares 4 Kids, which became an 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2015.

The community support has kept Caleb Cares 4 Kids going, even as Caleb graduated from West Muskingum High School and went off to Tiffin, where he started his studies at Heidelberg University. Even as the rules regarding what toys Children's Hospital would accept tightened, Caleb Cares 4 Kids expanded.

"They have some new policies on what they can take and what they can't. So we've kind of just shifted a little bit away from that and started just giving more money to other avenues that can benefit the hospital," Caleb said.

The second year Caleb Cares 4 Kids was in operation when a young Caleb saw a telethon for Children's Miracle Network, and thought it would be fun to participate. So the money people donated to Caleb Cares 4 Kids went to the telethon. He also began collecting the pop tabs from soda cans. Thousands and thousands of them go to Ronald McDonald House in Columbus. Recycling them "basically pays their electric bill for the year," he said. Erica pulls out a picture on her phone and shows a dozen or more 5-gallon buckets on a luggage cart during one tab drop off.

"We also now are able to take toys and stuff (to the Ronald McDonald House)," Caleb said. "We actually didn't know for sure if they took toys, but they do so anything that Nationwide can't take or or doesn't have the room for" goes to the Ronald McDonald House, as well as other hospitals.

Caleb Cares 4 Kids also started a scholarship. Last spring Caleb Cares 4 Kids was awarded $10,700 by the 100 Women Who Care group, which Caleb used to get the scholarship started. The scholarship will go to Muskingum County students who have undergone a significant medical event in their lives, he said. It will be administered by the Muskingum County Community Foundation and applications will be available through their Scholarship Central portal.

To raise funds, Caleb Cares 4 Kids does a spaghetti dinner and auction every year. And then there is Priscilla.

Priscilla is a pink toilet. She appears on lawns or in front of businesses, and for $10 she will go away. For $20, the prior host gets to choose her next visit. And for $30, "you get insurance she won't come back for a year. Most people don't need that, but typically the people that do don't get it," Caleb said with a laugh.

Caleb Cares 4 Kids continues to expand. With Caleb in Tiffen, he has been discussing ways to help hospitals in Northwest Ohio. And the organization took off in Heath with the help of a cousin who works at Heath City Schools. Caleb said Priscilla was well travelled in Heath for a while. With the help of Zoom meetings and his parents, the charity has been able to thrive, even with Caleb in college.

"People always ask how long are will I keep doing this," Caleb said. "I've been doing it 11 years and I don't plan on stopping. I don't have any reason to, it is making a positive change, so why would I?"

For more information, visit Caleb Cares 4 Kids' website, www.calebcares4kids.org.

ccrook@gannett.com

740-868-3708

@crookphoto

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Caleb Cares 4 Kids continues to expand