Local fifth-grader launches global LEGO drive
With the support of local businesses, a Sammamish fifth grader collected over 100 pounds of LEGO for children around the world.
During a visit to India in the summer of 2023, Sai Chinmay Karthik, 10, found that many of the children he met had never heard of LEGO, a toy that has played a major role in his childhood. After visiting an orphanage in the city of Chennai, Sai Karthik wanted to bring the joy of LEGO to those children.
“LEGO was a really big part of my life, so when I saw that they didn’t even know what it was, I was really surprised,” Karthik said.
Knowing the toys can be pricey, Karthik had to come up with an affordable way to gather LEGO bricks if he was going to help kids discover the same joy he felt. He began researching what happened to discarded LEGO sets and learned that nearly nine tons of the toys end up in landfills each year.
With support from his mother, Tulsi Karthik, 40, and an outreach plan from Julie Honn, the Executive Director of the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce, Sai Karthik launched his first successful LEGO donation drive in early 2025.
To gather donations, Sai Karthik reached out to local businesses to host collection boxes and flyers. The initiative collected gently used, mixed, or broken LEGO bricks and sets. Donation boxes were placed at REMAX Alliance, Key Bank, 2468 Restaurant, Expedia Cruises and ACE Hardware.
“Most families have LEGOs sitting at home. People were excited to finally have a way to pass them on to someone else,” Tulsi Karthik said.
Once the toys were collected, the mother-son duo had to find a way to get them to children around the world. They found a company, Brick Recycler, that specializes in redistributing donated LEGO.
Brick Recycler coordinated with schools, libraries, hospitals, and nonprofit partners to match donations with organizations and communities that request the toys. Shipments have gone to orphanages in Zimbabwe, pediatric hospitals in India, foster children, low-income schools, and families displaced by natural disasters.
In its first year, the Karthiks’ drive shipped over 100 pounds of LEGO bricks. For Sai Karthik, the most meaningful part of the process was imagining the children who eventually received them.
“Even one LEGO can make a difference,” Sai Karthik said. “Every donation gives happiness to a child.”
Now in its second year, the LEGO drive is continuing as Sai Karthik and his family work to expand participation. Community members can donate new or used LEGO sets at participating businesses or by sharing information about the effort. (LEGO Drive flyer for more Information.)
