Texans Helping Texans: Girl who helped other kids in Hurricane Harvey still giving back to her community

HOUSTON — One of the people who reached out to help victims of Hurricane Harvey was a little girl who made it her mission to help kids who lost everything.

Five years later, she’s still giving back to her community.

“We have all our stuffed animals,” said 13-year-old Lily Dubose as she walked KHOU 11’s Janelle Bludau through her warehouse. “We have more dolls, more barbie dolls and more dolls.”

Lily says she still can’t believe her eyes.

“It’s crazy to me how much this has grown,” she said.

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Five years ago, Lily, who was 8 years old at the time, was handing out toys she had collected for those in her community who lost everything.

“I saw kids on tv, like not having toys and then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I need to help, doing this,'” she said at the time.

Fast forward to 2022 and her mindset hasn’t changed.

“Harvey, I was in my closet with my mom and we were watching the news and seeing all these kids leaving their homes and just leaving everything behind and I knew that I could give my own toys away,” Lily said.

“When she came to me and said I want to donate toys, I thought, ‘what a great way to get rid of clutter,'” Lily’s mom said.

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What started out as a small gesture quickly became Lily’s Toy Box, her very own nonprofit organization.

“We like to help kids who are going through difficult situations,” Lily said.

As of August 23, the organization has collected more than $70,000 for its community.

“I’ve given over 31,000 toys,” Lily said.

The operation has grown out of their living room into a warehouse.

“Now we’re here like this, it’s crazy,” Lily said. “It’s just crazy how many we have got from hurricane Harvey and how much people have donated and how wonderful of a community we have.”