Collecting toys for needy children

STROUDSBURG — June 25 would have been Tamir Rice’s 13th birthday but he won’t be celebrating because he was shot by rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann within two seconds of the police cruiser arrival in Cleveland, Ohio on Nov. 22, 2014.

He died the next day at MetroHealth Medical Center from his wounds. Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback were answering a 911 call about someone waving a gun. Tamir had been playing with an airsoft-type gun that shoots non-lethal plastic projectiles loaned to him by a friend outside the Cudell Recreation Center.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos (UUFP) located at 118 Knight Street, next to Knights Park in Stroudsburg, will be collecting Toys4Tamir on what would have been Tamir’s 13th birthday, June 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

At the request of Tamir’s family, this action is meant to honor Tamir and benefit children like him across the country. Toys contributed will be donated to Monroe County Children and Youth which will distribute them to needy children.

For more information visit http://uupoconos.org.