Dallas Silva is in the third grade at Randolph Elementary School.

He will turn nine on Jan. 13, and he already understands that a person who can help others has an obligation to do so.

Several months ago, Dallas had an idea to do a toy drive to collect toys for kids living in shelters at Christmas.

“We talked about it, and then one day driving him to school, we started talking about how cold it was,” said his mother Sonda. “We decided then that instead of having a toy drive that we would concentrate on blankets. In fact, Dallas came up with the idea to call the drive ‘Heat Up the Homeless for the Holidays.’”

Dallas got busy and eventually accumulated 60 blankets.

“I got blankets from school, from Oakland Baptist Church and on Dec. 10, I had a table outside the Family Dollar Store in Goochland,” he said.  “People could buy blankets from the store and then give them to us.”

On Dec. 23, Dallas, his mother and father, John, traveled to Monroe Park in Richmond.

“A lot of homeless people are around the park during the daytime,” Dallas said. “When we got there, we went around giving blankets to people. They all seemed happy to get one.”

They handed out 45 blankets and the rest were given to the Harvest Food Pantry at Victory Christian Fellowship Church in Goochland.

On their ride home from Monroe Park, Dallas said to his parents that the homeless people are “just like us.”

“I was impressed with how happy they were,” Sonda said. “They understood their situation and seemed to have a freedom that comes with their way of life.”

The blanket drive might be the first of what could become more caring activities by Dallas. He still wants to do a toy drive sometime later this year.

“It made us all feel good to help the people we gave the blankets to,” he said.

“I think if we want our children to be successful in life that we need to teach them to care for other people,” Sonda said. “We’re very proud of what Dallas did with the blanket drive and will certainly support his future efforts to help people.”

Photo by Jim Fields
Dallas Silva and mom, Sonda.