Toy Donations

Thanks to everyone who continues to drive our mission and make the achievement of these milestones possible. Together we are truly making a difference!

 To my kind & generous friends- both old & new,
 
I would like to thank every single one of you who donated your children’s toys- and I would especially like to thank all the kids who let them go!
 
We collected hundreds of toys – on day 2 of the drive I had to stop the tally because I was over 200 already and there were so many more to count.  I was, and continue to be blown away by your selflessness.  You may think that you were getting rid of some old dust collectors, but you were wrong.  What you were really giving was hope.  And love.  And I will always be so grateful to all of you for that.
 
The group that was the recipient of your largess is The Guardian Angel Family Crisis Center, a not for profit group of people working to improve the lives of families all over Nassau County.  It’s staffed by two social workers Barbara Costello and Elaine Cordova (who are quite gifted in their vocation). They bring many years of social work with them and a tremendous network of 50 social workers involved with the county. When your toys were delivered, social workers came with a list of their most needy families and hand picked “presents” for them.  There were so many donations that they were able to host a “toy fair” when they opened their doors and allowed more families from social services to come and select just what they wanted! Everybody was so happy, and the children were delighted.  (In fact there was so much, they are doing another pick up next Monday!!)
 
I know that lately we have all been asked to donate to so many worthwhile causes, and I am so glad and grateful you picked Second Chance Toys, whose mission is to keep plastic toys out of landfills and into the hands of children. Many of the recipients are our neighbors, who because of many factors, now find themselves in desperate need.  
 
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!Carey Campbell

Since its inception in 2001, The New York Kids Club (www.nykidsclub.com) has been providing New York City kids a safe haven to learn, play, have fun and grow.  Kids get a chance to swing on gyms, rock climb, play soccer, paint, sing, and cook up their own gourmet dishes while they work off a whole lotta steam.  From the Upper West Side down to Brooklyn Heights NYKC’s 6 locations have become a community within the community for children 6 months - 12 years.
 
An important part of being a community, though, is giving back to the community.  Under the visionary leadership of founder Pam Wolf, the New York Kids Club is constantly seeking new ways to get involved. As organizations begin tightening their purse strings in light of the current economic ebb, NYKC has pledged to continue to make charitable contributions and participation a top priority.
This spring, NYKC teamed up with Second Chance Toys to transform the fun into a good and green campaign to support Earth Day.   Families rallied by donating their favorite “gently used” plastic toys to kids in the community that aren’t as fortunate.
“This year’s collection was over the top”, according to Jocelyn Goldberg, 15-year old founder of Second Chance Toys’ New York City Chapter.  “We collected over 3,600 plastic toys that would have ultimately wound up in city landfills. Instead, they now are getting a second chance to brighten the day of children that really will appreciate them.”
 
Toys were donated to the Educational Alliance, Association to Benefit Children, and Homes for the Homeless.  These organizations work tirelessly to provide shelter and educational programs serving tens of thousands of families in need each year.  1-800-GOT-JUNK?  helped bring it all together by transporting toy donations from NYKC to each of the facilities.   

For the past 2 months, the students at JFK Elementary School in Jamesburg, NJ, have been working on a project to recycle gently used toys.  After the toys were brought to school, the Student Council cleaned them and made sure they were in good working order.  The kids learned the value of recycling to help our environment, as well as the importance of giving to children in need.  We donated approximately 200 toys to Catholic Charities in New Brunswick, NJ.  The drive was extremely successful. 
We would like to thank Second Chance Toys for sharing this idea with us and making a difference in the lives of many children.

Our first collection in Virginia was a success! The Moms Club of Haymarket, Virginia contributed 75 of their children’s toys to send to Appalachia. Renee Johnson, Administrative Vice President of the Moms Club, spearheaded the effort. Because the toys were donated to Sharing and Caring Hands, which serves the very needy of Appalachia, it was an especially gratifying experience.

Trailside Museum included a collection of Second Chance Toys during its Earth Day educational programs and activities. Park Naturalist, Rebecca Novorro, who spearheaded the collection during Trailside’s first Earth Day celebration, was enthusiastic about keeping these non-biodegradable plastics out of our landfills. She noted, “We wanted to invite our community to join us in having fun while honoring the Earth and recognizing the different ways we impact it.  We were thrilled with how many people were eager to pledge promises to the planet for the upcoming year, take home a Sycamore seedling to plant, and donate their gently used toys in order to reduce the waste we generate and reuse the toys in a productive way. Thanks Second Chance Toys for providing an incredible means to encourage people to reduce, reuse, and recycle!!” The 125 toys donated by residents all over Union County went to the Community Coordinated Childcare program in Hillside.

With the continued partnership of the wonderful team at 1-800-Got-Junk?, Second Chance Toys of PA sponsored a number of toys collections throughout the Greater Philadelphia community during Earth Week 2010.  Toy drives were sponsored by several companies including TargetRx, Inc., VMS Movement Specialists LLC, Take Care Health, Inc.  In addition, Oxford Valley Mall and Yardley Community Borough pitched in to lend a helping hand.  Best of all, three local elementary schools got into the game with enthusiastic groups of local kids working together to shine up hundreds and hundreds of beautiful gently used plastic toys for deserving kids in our area.  Hats off to the children, faculty, staff and parents at Gladwyne Elementary, Penn Valley Elementary and Lower Merion Elementary schools!  What a great job by all!  Recycling the toys and helping the kids in our area is what it is all about!  Thank you!!

Through the efforts of Investors Savings Bank, whose 65 branches served as toy drop off locations, and with the trucks and manpower of 1-800-Got-Junk? franchisees Drew Trautman, Doug Martin, and Jim Barrett, who picked up and delivered the toys to 20 organizations, nearly three thousand gently used plastic toys were collected and donated on this Earth Day all over New Jersey to children in need. This also means that as many toys were kept out of our landfills and are still providing hours of play, interaction and squeals of joy for so many youngsters. Many thanks to Investors Savings Bank and 1-800-Got Junk? for their continued support of our twice annual collections!

Passaic City Hall was bustling with many youngsters and their parents on Earth Day for Mayor Blanco’s presentation of Second Chance Toys. The children’s eyes widened as Drew Trautman of 1-800-Got-Junk? arrived with a truck load of gently used plastic toys which were gathered from the NJ statewide collection of toys at Investors Savings Bank branches. Bronna Lipton of Second Chance Toys asked the children about the three Rs of the environment and they added their suggestions on how to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Miriam Gonzalez, of Human Services for the city of Passaic, coordinated the event in which Mayor Dr. Alex D. Blanco spoke to the children and parents and underscored the importance of recycling and how we must care for our Earth. The children got to pick out their toys and there was no doubt that both they and the earth were happier for it!!!

 
Evergreen School students collected toys once again for their third annual Earth Week toy collection. Students wrote bilingual messages on the back of Second Chance Toys tags and hung them on the toys as a way of showing they cared. They learned about plastic toys not biodegrading in our landfills and collected 300 good as new toys that went to helping Honduras.