Dear Pass The Bricks Team,
Thank you, for all the incredible work you do. Your dedication and generosity truly make a difference, and it's clear how much effort you put into helping kids in need.
What you have built is inspiring. and I sincerely appreciate the impact you continue to have on the community. Thank you again for all you do.
I am grateful for the opportunity to support your mission.
Thoughts and prayers,
Simon Long, Jimmy's son.
Pass the Bricks donates LEGOs
Please join us in thanking Pass the Bricks, a Delaware-based nonprofit, that recently donated LEGOs for our students to enjoy this summer. Pass the Bricks collects donated LEGO bricks, sanitizes and sorts them, and creates new sets to distribute to children who may not otherwise have access to them or who could simply use a reason to smile. The operator of Pass the Bricks is a retired government employee who lives in Odessa. In addition, he is assembling 100 free-build bags that will be distributed through our summer programs and then sent home with students afterward. Looking ahead to the next school year, there are plans in place for collection bins to be placed in our schools so families can donate used LEGO bricks. The donations would be periodically collected and repurposed for future distributions.
Our Story
Pass the Bricks is a Worldwide non-profit organization that exists to give more children access to play. It was founded on the following realizations: LEGO® is an incredible play tool that supports kids’ cognitive and emotional development - Many children don’t have access to LEGO® - Used LEGO® bricks can end up in storage or even a landfill. We repurpose used LEGO® bricks into “new” sets for kids who wouldn’t normally have access to them. With your help, we can give used LEGO® bricks a second life, be creative, and help kids in need!
Ambassador For Delaware
GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR
Keith Benning thrives on a sense of accomplishment and always has an ongoing project. These days many of those projects involve building LEGO sets —hundreds of them—for a worthy cause. His journey reflects a powerful idea that retirement is not the end of the story but the start of a new chapter.
Keith grew up in Somerset, Pennsylvania—a small town where entertainment meant a single movie theater, a roller-skating rink, and a bowling alley. For him, it also meant growing up playing with Lincoln Logs and building with plastic bricks—a theme that would come back to serve him later.
During high school, he participated in a vocational technical marketing program that gave him early work experience at a local supermarket and a job as produce manager. He enjoyed the work but needed a bigger paycheck.
He applied for and landed a job with the DOD, working in a warehouse. That entry-level role grew into a 37-year career. Over time, Keith advanced into a business manager position and later into contracting, where he managed the spending.
One career highlight was working on a team tasked with developing new ways to streamline how the Supplies were procured. Today, he looks back on that time with pride, as an opportunity to think creatively, improve systems, and make a real impact.
A New Chapter Begins
In 2023, after decades of daily commuting to work, Keith and his partner Trish Gaffney decided they were ready to retire.
He recalls people asking “What will you do? Won’t you get bored?” His response: “No, never! I plan on finding something I like to do and something I am good at.
He tried many things in the early months of retirement. Then he found an unexpected source of inspiration: an article in Guideposts Magazine about an organization called “Pass the Bricks". Pass the Bricks into kits for children who won’t normally have access to them. The idea resonated with Keith immediately.
By then, he and Trish had moved from Belcamp, MD to Baymont Farms. Keith signed on as the Pass the Bricks ambassador for Delaware and spent a year researching and organizing a plan to bring the initiative to Delaware. Now, in his second year, he’s fully embraced the mission. He manages collection efforts, carefully sanitizes donated bricks, and assembles kits that are distributed to local charities.
Making a Real Impact Again
The results? Keith has established collection locations in Dagsboro and at the YMCA in Middletown. He also regularly sets up booths at YMCA-sponsored events to raise awareness and gather donations.
So far, more than 200 pounds of LEGO bricks have been collected, and over 500 kits have been distributed.
It’s exactly the kind of “something” Keith had hoped to find in retirement.
Fun Facts About Keith
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I build miniature houses, host mystery dinner parties and have raised six rabbits (not all at the same time.) Three were outside rabbits and three were inside rabbits.
Name the top two favorite places you’ve travelled to.
I love to travel to the United Kingdom to see how the other side of the world functions. I also have spent a great deal of time in different parts of Florida.
What quote/phrase describes your life motto?
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” - Benjamin Franklin
Origins
Charlie and Lucy Jeffers are the creators of Pass the Bricks. They both believe that every child deserves access to play and used for learning tools. No one does that better than Lego®. bricks Both were honored that Pass the Bricks has been covered in over 70 news outlets, to include Guidepost Magazine in the U.S., as well as China, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Australia.
How It Works
Pass the Bricks has a simple process. We collect used LEGO® bricks including DUPLO LEGO®, sanitize, sort, design into “new” sets and distribute them to kids who wouldn’t normally have access – either directly or through nonprofit partners such as Operation Christmas Child and Family Hope Coalition.
Community Impact
Let's make Lego ® sets for kids who need them! A table and some bricks are all that's needed to encourage kids of all ages, to come and make their own creation set. Then together we will donate to kids who need them. As an ambassador representing the First State of Delaware, I encourage the community to donate Lego® bricks, which will be recycled, sanitized, organized, created into new sets with printed instructions, packaged and donated to local charities for youth in need.
