Way to go! Baldwin's Michael Dones

Michael Dones has turned the concept of "regifting" into a way to help those in need.

For the past few years, the second-grader at Meadow Elementary School in Baldwin has donated his birthday gifts to all sorts of places, including a school in the Philippines and a food pantry at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, where his mother works as a nurse.

Last month he donated gifts from his eighth birthday to Levar Diaz, a classmate whose parents had died. Gift items included toys, clothes and gift cards to stores such as Toys R Us and GameStop.

"I'm happy to help," said Michael, 8.

Michael said he came up with the "regifting" idea while watching news coverage of flooding in the Philippines in 2009. That year his mother, April Dones, shipped four boxes of birthday gifts to the Philippines through a co-worker whose cousin teaches there.

When it came to Levar, Michael presented his classmate with the gifts during an in-school Valentine's Day party. Some classmates followed suit and bought their own gifts.

"It can be contagious," second-grade teacher Jennifer Levinson said of Michael's efforts.