KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — The Beth Haynes 12 Days of Christmas online auction benefitting the McNabb Center kicks off today.
It’s an opportunity for you to help more than 2,300 hundred children and families across 32 counties.
We begin with a toy drive that grew out of tragedy.
This peaceful retreat outside Central High School is more than just another place to learn.
It’s a tribute to a former classmate.
"Ryan was a good kid whether he had that persona or not," Roger McDonald, Ryan's uncle, told 10News.
But Ryan, his family tell us, looked a little different than the rest of his classmates.
"Ryan had alopecia, so he had no hair on his head, no eyebrows."
Growing up in Lonsdale, his family said, forced him to put on a tougher persona.
Ryan's tough exterior acted as his shield.
"It was rough growing up in Lonsdale for him and so, he had to put on a persona that he was tough, but it was just the opposite really," McDonald said. "He loved his family. He loved his friends."
Ryan also dreamt of playing football as a Bobcat, and of working with kids when he grew up.
"With the issues that he dealt with and the way he was raised, he told me several times he wanted to work with the kids that’s what he wanted to do," Roger said.
He never got that opportunity.
12 years ago, a fellow student shot and killed Ryan before the school bell rang.
Other teenagers watched in horror as he clutched his chest and fell to the floor.
Though it's a pain that still hurts a decade later, it is one Roger McDonald has turned into a purpose.
When the shooting happened, his nephew was a client at the McNabb Center.
He remembers how the organization stepped up after Ryan's death.
"Helen Ross McNabb was there everyday for two weeks bringing food, counseling, food, you name it. If we needed something they were there for us. So when we decided to get involved in the toy drive it was a no brainer of where those toys were going to go," McDonald said.
And, he’s been collecting toys for the McNabb Center’s Dear Santa program ever since.
"We do it because of the area Ryan grew up in Lonsdale. We know there’s a lot of need out there for people," he said.
Ryan would be 28 years old this year.
The Ryan McDonald Toy Drive will run through mid December.
All the toys go to the McNabb Center's Dear Santa program.