EXCLUSIVE: UNC Commits' Family Has High Hopes For Toy Drive

Two of the most valuable on-field commits are even better people off the field. Those commits are a pair of brothers from inside the Tar Heels state. Those players are Jayden and Zavion, the Griffin-Haynes brothers.

They have announced they will be doing a toy drive, which is a project that anyone could respect. You can see more information about the toy drive by clicking HERE.

The mother of the two brothers, Latara Griffin, recently caught up with North Carolina Tar Heels On SI to discuss the toy drive and more.

"So, I will say that this is not our first toy drive. This is something that we used to do every year in Jacksonville, for the children's hospital down there. We did it more as a doll drive at a girls nonprofit, so we did a doll drive every year for the hospital. The boys were in elementary and middle school, so the boys were able to help with that and were able to see what giving back looks like," she said.

"Jayden (Griffin-Haynes) dealt with a lot of childhood illnesses, so he was always in and out of the hospital, because he had really bad asthma. He was in and out of the hospital. There was a lot of time that people were coming by and doing that for us. They would ask me if I was ok, and if I was ok. They would bring a toy by, come by and pray, or even read a book. It has kind of always been a passion for me to give that back, because they did that for us, you know.

"We have been here (North Carolina) five years, and one day we were just talking and were wondering if they had a children's hospital here, and they did, so we was like 'let's do it here to'. We tried and did a run back in December. We didn't have a great turnout with the toy drive back in December. They came to me a few weeks ago, and was like, 'what happened to the toy drive, and what about this summer'. I hit her up to see if she still wants to do it, and the hospital said they still have a huge need, and the boys wanted to do it."

She detailed how she is hopeful for more to come through.

"I would say I have seen a lot of support on Twitter (X). We are hoping to see some more support. We also see the negative, but we do see a lot of positive from the fans. I'm not really sure that I have seen it for the toy drive, but I would love to see it," she said.

"I'm hoping that this is something that the boys will be able to do annually, and we are looking into them doing a lot of community service amongst them, and I hope this is something that can follow them as they do transition to UNC, and something that they are doing all the time. Not just a toy drive, but community events, reading books at the schools. We have already talked to a few principals about them reading books, and we are hopeful that this is more than just this toy drive."

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