Teacher sells toy collection to help child in need of new wheelchair

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A teacher sold a 25-year-old toy collection after learning a family couldn’t afford a special wheelchair for their disabled son.

Logan Roninger, a 4-year-old who’s never walked before, was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy when he was 8 months old. It’s a genetic disease that affects muscle strength and tone.

Logan’s mom, Trisha Roninger, told ABC News that she and her husband want to take Logan outdoors with them, but with him getting older and outgrowing his current power wheelchair, it’s going to become more difficult.

Their family is raising money for a Tankchair, a power wheelchair that goes off road, since insurance won’t cover the cost of the chair.

“Our very little boy just wants to play in the dirt, play in the mud,” Roninger said. “We want to make it as accessible as possible. We want to give him that opportunity.”

During the school year, local businesses and schools in Oregon pitched in to help raise the goal of $17,000. Trisha said, they ended up raising about $11,000.

Nat Ellis, a teacher at Klamath Union High School, helped contribute to the goal by selling his 25-year-old toy collection.

He sold 1,139 toys from fast food restaurants on eBay.

He said he started the collection after a student put a toy on his desk 25-years-ago.

“I was going to sell them to go towards my retirement,” Ellis told ABC News. “I just thought it was a good way to give it off to someone else.”

Ellis said he took part because he wanted to help the cause his school had taken on.

All of the toys were sold, thanks to his students who created a press release and spread the word on social media about the auction. It ended Tuesday morning.

The latest auction, which you can find here, ends next Tuesday.

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