Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Ken Jakubec, who organized Saturday’s toy sort in the Austintown Plaza, left, and Sgt. Mascimiliano Reyes of the Vienna-based Marine Corps Reserve Combat Logistics Battalion 453, stand next to hundreds of donated bicycles at Saturday’s event.

AUSTINTOWN – As part of Austintown Fitch High School’s softball team, Vita Kelty typically pitches or plays the outfield, though she recently felt as though she had hit a home run off the field.

“I feel really blessed to just volunteer and help my community out … and bring joy to children. It warms my heart,” Kelty said.

The Fitch High student was among dozens of people of all ages who rolled up their sleeves Saturday morning and afternoon and pitched in to volunteer for the annual Toys for Tots toy sort in a building at the Austintown Plaza on Mahoning Avenue.

Her duties during the four-hour effort included sorting a variety of toys and gifts by gender and age group to be placed in large boxes, each of which contained that information, along with the number of items inside.

Kelty’s charitable act also aligned with the course she intends for her life to take, because one of her goals is to attend Youngstown State University to study psychology, she said, adding that the project also was a unifying experience for many of her team members.

“It’s extremely humbling to see the generosity of this Valley and make someone’s Christmas special,” Steven Ward, the softball team’s coach, said. “The message I told them was, ‘We feel we have a lot, so we will do our best for our community.'”

Twelve team members took part in the effort, Ward added.

Spearheading the toy sort was Ken Jakubec, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1964 to 1970, and who works in the maintenance department at Quaker Steak & Lube in Austintown.

What initially may have looked to some like “organized chaos” actually was a meticulous, unified effort to gather the donated goods into age and gender categories, then carefully box them, Jakubec explained.

The toy sort also was the last of three phases, the first of which began Oct. 1 with placing boxes at an estimated 250 locations in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. The next step was to collect the items, then bring them to Saturday’s location before they will be picked up beginning next week, he noted.

Donated merchandise included board games, children’s books, stuffed animals, sports memorabilia, stocking stuffers, dolls and building blocks.

Also brought to the event and stored in a back room and elsewhere were about 376 bicycles for children of all ages, courtesy of three women who run a Liberty-based group called Shots for Tots, Jakubec said. He added that A to Z Plumbing & Drain Service of Niles donated more than 30 additional bicycles, and that other collection brought Saturday’s total to more than 400.

Between 32 and 36 organizations in Mahoning and Trumbull counties will be the recipients of the items beginning Monday, Sgt. Mascimiliano Reyes of Marine Corps Reserve Combat Logistics Battalion 453, noted.

Reyes and three others from Battalion 453, based at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, came to the event, and the Marine Reserves will distribute the items to the charities.

Toys for Tots is a Marine Corps Reserve community action program committed to brightening the Christmas holiday for children less fortunate nationwide.

“This makes my heart feel full,” Jennifer Poling, an assistant manager with Austintown Great Clips, said. “I love to give back, and I want to instill that value in my son.”

Suffice it to say she likely did just that, because Poling’s son, Wyatt Young, 10, of Hubbard, also was busy counting and sorting toys.

Also representing the business was Great Clips’ manager, Gina Hambrick, who noted that this marked the business’s third year assisting with the toy sort.

“I thoroughly enjoy helping and volunteering our time,” she said, adding that four of her employees also took part.

Following a similar charitable trajectory was Amanda Kellar of Warren, who took her time to examine, then box, a variety of items as her 7-year-old daughter, Natalie Kellar, largely followed suit.

Jakubec expressed his gratitude to the volunteers, at least half of whom are with Quaker Steak & Lube. The business has been part of the effort for at least seven years, he said.

“Once I get them here, they’re hooked. They realize how enormous this is,” Jakubec said about the QS&L and other volunteers.

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