Zion Gibbs' mother has launched a toy drive to bring joy to children during the holidays. The event not only honors her son's dream of becoming a firefighter but also transforms grief into a legacy of love.

A family and community honored the memory of a 7-year-old boy's life cut short on Friday with a toy drive to make Christmas a little brighter for other children.

Zion Gibbs was playing videogames inside his his home on Danish Drive when he was shot and killed by a drive-by bullet. As his mother spent days in the hospital, watching her son fight for life, she came up with the idea to turn her pain into purpose.

"It just made me realize that some things we take for granted -- kids being there during the holidays, doing their birthdays," Zion's mother Myra Gibbs told WRAL News. "This is one of the reasons that I'm doing the drive."

The Zion Legacy of Love and the Zion Safe Place Foundation collected toys this week for children in need. The dropoff point -- Fire Station No. 5 in Fayetteville -- was a nod to Zion's ambition to be a firefighter, sparked when firefighters answered an emergency call at the family home.

Myra Gibbs said the carbon monoxide alarm went out at the house. When firefighters arrived to check, she said, "Zion was so amazed, and he was talking to them and he said, 'I want to do just like you.'"

When Steven Parrish, chief at station No. 5, put out the word for toys, they started pouring in.

"It warmed out hearts," he said. "What better way to honor a little fellow who was just taken from us so tragically."

Myra Gibbs plans the toy drive as an annual event. She also wants to give scholarships in Zion's name.

"I also want to do things I can do -- back-to-school events, Easter baskets -- just to give back in memory of him," she said.

Two people -- 20-year-old Antori Porter and 19-year-old Sierra Chambers have been charged with murder in the drive-by shooting that led to Zion's death.