WEYMOUTH — With need in the community especially high this year, the Richards family will continue its tradition of collecting hundreds of toys for children in need in memory of Cooper Richards.
A group of friends and relatives came together in March 2015 to support the Richards family after then-15-month-old Cooper was diagnosed with GM-1 gangliosidosis, a terminal genetic disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The group dubbed themselves Coop’s Troop and sold special bracelets and held events to help raise money for his medical care.
The Richards family created the Coop’s Troop Foundation to pay it forward and started the Coop’s Troop Holiday Toy Drive for children in need in 2016, during Cooper’s last Christmas.
Cooper, the youngest of Kelly and Mike Richards’s four children, died from the disorder in January 2017 when he was 3 years old. The toy drive, now in its fifth year, continues in Cooper’s memory.