VISTA, Calif. — Vista's Toy Man is at it again, this time donating tens of thousands of dollars worth of sports memorabilia to help military families and veterans. In this Zevely Zone, I learned how the Toy Man's generosity is even attracting the attention of President Joe Biden.
For more than three decades, Jeffrey Olsen has opened his heart and wallet to help families in need every holiday season. Jeffrey is known as the Toy Man who has given away more than 58,000 gifts to people in need. If a baseball autographed by Tony Gwynn piques your interest wait until you see his mountain of memorabilia.
Jeffrey Olsen spent years winning online auctions. He has signed memorabilia from Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, Brett Favre, Mike Tyson and many more. Usually, Jeffrey surprises children during the holidays but in honor of his father this time he's helping military families. The collection includes a baseball signed by Michael Jordan and football helmet signed by Joe Namath. He also has a baseball helmet signed by Yankee's great, Reggie Jackson.
Jeffrey's father, Robert Olsen was a Marine who earned a Purple Heart fighting during the Korean War. I asked him what his father would think about his generous donation. "He would be all for it because it's going to help out a lot of active military in need of help," said Jeffrey.
"It's amazing," said Tim Ney who is the Executive Director of Armed Services YMCA San Diego. "I am a Marine, my father is Marine as you know and so is Jeffrey Olsen's dad was also a Marine. So it's one Marine Corps family and we drove into today and we see that Marine Corps emblem out on the front that says 'Supporting Our Troops' it's just amazing that this Marine Corps family is still wrapping it's arms around our military community," said Tim. The memorabilia will be auctioned off during a charity golf tournament at Singing Hills on March 20th.
"This is wonderful," said State Assemblywoman, Laurie Davies. She is a Packers fan who plans on bidding for the Brett Favre helmet, but first she wanted to a read a proclamation. "It is my honor to Jeffrey Olsen for his dedication in improving the community of Vista and San Diego County through his acts of kindness," she read.
Imagine spending years of your life collecting all of the memorabilia which is political too, just to give it all away. Jeffrey has a hat signed by former President Donald Trump and pictures signed by President Obama, President Clinton, President Carter and President Joe Biden. The current president sent Jeffrey a letter that read in part. "Your story is an integral part of the American story. Sincerely Joe Biden." "It's not every day the President of the United States writes you a letter, " I said. Jeffrey in his quiet humble way simply smiled.
Jeffrey who also donated 548 pounds of food this year to the Salvation Army. The sports memorabilia auction and charity golf tournament to help military families takes place on March 20th. For more information about the Armed Services YMCA San Diego event click here.
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