For nearly two decades, Mitch Goldminz has brought toys — and smiles — to children facing serious illness
By Sharon Wisch-Ray
At 80, Mitch Goldminz has slowed down in some ways. His back gives him trouble, and friends sometimes help him load the cartons he once handled himself. But the reason he no longer goes upstairs at children’s hospitals to visit young cancer patients isn’t physical.
The emotional toll became too much.
“It just wipes you out,” Goldminz said. “I used to, but I can’t do it anymore.”
He hasn’t stopped bringing the toys.
For approximately 18 years, the Plano resident has collected and distributed small toys for children battling cancer and other serious illnesses. Several times a year — and again around Hanukkah and Christmas — boxes filled with Hot Wheels cars, dolls, puzzles, Play-Doh, LEGO sets and other toys make their way from Goldminz’s storage units to the organizations he serves. They include: Cook Children’s, Children’s Medical Center, MD Anderson, Shriners Children’s, Scottish Rite for Children, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and Make-A-Wish, among others.
He estimates his distributions reach nearly 400 children.
When someone calls between his regular distributions and says more are needed, he tries to provide those, too.
“What I need is small toys,” Goldminz said. “Something that a child could do while they’re getting treatment.”
Much of what he distributes Goldminz buys himself. Friends and some small businesses help, but he said his efforts to secure regular donations from major toy manufacturers and retailers have largely been unsuccessful.
That doesn’t stop him.
Helping people, Goldminz said, is something he has done for as long as he can remember.
“As even a kid growing up, if someone was in need, I would help out one way or another,” he said. “You have to help people.”
Asked where that desire came from — whether it was something he learned from his parents or someone else — Goldminz couldn’t really say. It was simply something he had always done.
Years ago, when Goldminz owned a vacuum-cleaner business, he made a service call to the home of a woman who was crying on the telephone. Her husband had just died. Goldminz repaired her vacuum.
When she asked what she owed him, he told her nothing.
The instinct to help would follow Goldminz throughout his life.
A 33-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, much of it as a reserve officer, Goldminz spent years in law enforcement and public safety.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he and fellow Dallas Reserve Police Officer Robert Baer loaded a van with donated supplies and drove to New York to help. While there, Goldminz volunteered at Nino’s restaurant, which was feeding rescue workers, and assisted the Salvation Army’s operation supporting workers at Ground Zero.
That commitment to helping others became deeply personal years later when cancer struck Goldminz’s own family.
In August 2015, his 8½-year-old grandson, Zachary, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone and soft-tissue cancer. Zachary underwent months of chemotherapy and extensive limb-sparing surgery.
Goldminz responded in characteristic fashion: He looked for something he could do.
An artist known for colorful acrylic paintings on glass, Goldminz began selling his work to benefit Ewing sarcoma research and pediatric cancer programs. He also collected more than 500 stuffed animals for patients at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and Plano.
“All I want to do is help,” Goldminz told the TJP in 2016. “I have a soft spot for all sick kids — and this one’s mine — it’s a no-brainer.”
Zachary is now doing well and has begun college. But what his illness set in motion for his grandfather never stopped.
His art has remained another avenue for giving. Goldminz has sold paintings to raise money for charitable causes including cancer research.
Ask Goldminz whether he gets as much out of helping people today as he did when he was younger, and his answer is “no.”
He gets more.
“Because I increase what I’m doing,” he said. “The more stuff I give out, you know, makes you feel good.”
The uniform has been put away. He can’t carry everything he once could, and these days the nurses generally come downstairs to meet him.
But the toys keep coming.
For Goldminz, the explanation is the same one it has always been.
“You have to help people.”
To donate new small toys or make a contribution to Goldminz’s efforts, contact him at 214-236-4520 or mitchtheartist@gmail.com.
