Chelsea student uses paycheck to purchase toys for children in need

Matthew Valentine is using his paycheck to make a difference in his community. A senior at Chelsea High School, Valentine said he has seen tension thicken the atmosphere of the nation, and he hopes to do something about it starting with the people of Chelsea.

Valentine is teaming with Dairy Queen Brazier of Chelsea, where he works, to bring as much “happiness” as he can to children in need.

“During the past several months, there has been so much anger, hatred and mistrust in our country,” Valentine wrote in a November letter to his community, “As we approach the holiday season, I hope that we can all come together with a common goal of peace and hope.”

In the letter, Valentine also described his plan to use his next paycheck to purchase items for people going through hard times. He said the gifts will be stationed at Dairy Queen for anyone in need, who could pick up the items.

Since then, Valentine and other employees at Dairy Queen in Chelsea, have purchased and acquired nearly 70 presents for children in need.

“Everyone bought some,” Valentine said of the Chelsea Dairy Queen staff. The gifts will remain in the staff’s care until distribution, he said.

“And we’re going to buy them until the [distribution] day actually comes,” Valentine said.

The gifts collected so far range in expense and age groups, Valentine said. He said that most toys are geared toward younger kids, but teens may find something they like, as well.

The team is organizing an event scheduled tentatively for Dec. 15. Community members may visit Dairy Queen’s location in Chelsea during a two-hour period to select gifts for someone in need that they may know, or to choose gifts for their own needs.

Valentine said that his plan has been several weeks in the making. The execution of the plan, however, depended on a simple Christmas tree traditionally placed in the corner of the Dairy Queen restaurant.

After new owners purchased the Dairy Queen over the summer, Valentine said he wondered if the tree would still be put up this year. He believed it could serve as a perfect placement for gifts and an appealing draw to potential donors.

“I already had the thought in mind, and so I kept asking, ‘Are we gonna have the tree up? Are we gonna have the tree up?’” Valentine said he asked his manager. “She didn’t know, and then I just wrote the letter.”

The letter did the trick.

“I gave it to my general manager,” Valentine said, “and then she sent it to corporate, and they thought it was a good idea.”

Valentine said that beyond a general desire to induce greater happiness for individuals, he hopes to broaden people’s perspectives by promoting “awareness toward unfortunate people.”

There are many in the Chelsea community, he said, who “just don’t have enough—and so they might need help.”