Let’s help 10-year-old reach his dreams by voting

Riley Oliver turns 10 years old this month, and is urging the members of the community to help him get a gift he will never forget.

Riley, who took part in the Toys ‘R’ Us 60 seconds toy sprint in June, is asking people to vote for him so that he can win a trip to Singapore.

The superstar is now one of the 12 finalists from different provinces.

“As a finalist, I need people to vote for me so I can win an all expenses paid trip to Singapore. If I am chosen, I will participate in a 5-minute toy sprint in one of the biggest toy stores in the world,” said Riley.

Tanya, the mother of this superstar, said she has reached out to everyone for them to help with the voting.

“For this campaign, I am approaching everyone – to the point that people think I am crazy. Whenever I see someone with 5 000 followers on social media, I ‘inbox’ them and ask them to assist us. We are also having flyers printed and handed out,” said Tanya.

She went on to explain that voting only starts on Monday, 12 August, but she is making sure that she leaves no stone unturned.

“At this stage, we do not know the nitty gritties, but we are pushing so that people know about the voting process. We are working on reaching everyone,” explained Tanya.

She added that the initial sprint was held at the Mall of Africa.

“During the sprint, the participants went into the Mall of Africa store where they had to fill their trolleys with toys to the value of R15 000. Riley managed to get R14 600 worth of goods and was very chuffed, because he got everything he wanted, and I could not afford to buy it for him,” said Tanya.

When asked how they found out about the Toy Sprint, she said she had wanted to take part in this kind of competition since she was a child. “We saw an advert on television and Riley wanted me to enter for him. At that point I did not want to, but I then came across it on Facebook and entered him. I did not expect much, because there are thousands of people that enter, so when he got in, he was really ecstatic,” added Tanya.

Riley concluded by saying that he enjoyed every single moment of the toy sprint and is very grateful to have been given the opportunity.

“The whole experience was fun. At first I thought I would not get everything I wanted, but in the end I was able to get everything. Some of the things I had always prayed for, which I got during the sprint, are the hoverboard, the Playstation, and headphones, and I also got a mini car for my baby brother. Another thing is that I made new friends,” he said.

Tanya is urging the public to visit the ‘Get Riley to Singapore’ page on Facebook and Instagram for more information on voting and said that voters stand a chance of winning a replica trolley containing everything that Riley chooses.