A pinching motion using the thumb and index finger can be difficult for a child with severe motor impairments, but pressing a button can be a lot easier. With that in mind, dozens of people installed buttons on toys and it started with a teacher, a student, and a birthday wish.

Emily Perez is a speech pathologist with the Long Beach Unified School District. She also knows how to solder, which is fusing wires together with extreme heat. It’s dangerous and difficult, yet she learned how to do it on YouTube.

Through her job, Perez works with many students who have trouble moving. That’s where she got the idea to make specialty Christmas gifts they could enjoy.

Sofia Steinberg is 12 years old. She’s the toy supplier. She heard Perez needed them for her Christmas project so on Steinberg’s birthday in October, she asked people to bring toys they could later rewire.

Thanks to Steinberg 27 kids will get gifts.

It might seem small, but adding a button switch onto a toy so it’s easier to play with sometimes doubles the price. It’s much cheaper to do it yourself, but this is highly technical work and most of it is self-taught.

All of the toys they rewired got wrapped. They’ll be given to the parents of kids with severe motor impairments so they can open them on Christmas day.

Parents, students, and teachers all volunteered to help work on the toys. It started because Perez is passionate and spread the word as much as possible. It’s proof that many teachers never stop working for their students.