UPDATE: I finally located the perfect place to donate our gifts yesterday. We took them to a charitable organization that plans to drive around to migrant farming camps on Christmas Day and deliver toys to the children living there.
It’s a terribly sad situation for these families. Migrant workers arrive in this area each year to harvest tomatoes, strawberries, and other food from the farms around here. They come here with virtually nothing, and live packed like sardines in travel trailers parked around the edges of the farms.
I’m so proud of my kids, you can’t even imagine. Here’s a pic of them before we left to drop off the toys.
My kids received some money for the holidays and decided to buy toys for needy kids instead of spending it on themselves. I took them shopping yesterday and, all told, they’ve got about $300 in toys to donate in addition to what I’m also kicking in. Now, what are we going to do with this stuff?
I know there are several Toys For Tots drop-off points in my area, but I wanted my kids to have a more meaningful hand-off than just dropping stuff into a cardboard box at the local tire shop. I know my kids would love to meet a real, live Marine so I tried arranging to drop off the donations at a local recruiting center. I talked to people at various levels within the Toys For Tots organization — including a call to the USMC public affairs department in Quantico — and got nowhere (apparently I can’t just show up at a recruiting office and assume anyone will be there). Now I’m looking for a new organization where we can donate a boatload of new, unwrapped toys. I want to know that what we give will actually get into the hands of local kids but I’m at a loss for who to contact. I don’t want to just dump them at the door of a church, the local YMCA, or any other faceless group without at least a modicum of certainty that the toys will go where they should. I also want my kids to come away with a sense of pride about what they’ve done, instead of just giving them to an overworked volunteer who mumbles “thanks” over her shoulder as she walks off with the goods.
I considered just showing up at the Salvation Army as they serve Christmas dinner and just handing out wrapped gifts but I’d be mortified if we ran out right as Little Susie got a doll while her brother left empty-handed.
Who knew giving away a bunch of new toys would be so complicated?
Frankly, I’m a bit frustrated and more than a little sad. It really shouldn’t be this difficult to do the Right Thing. I’m over-the-moon proud about this plan my kids cooked up and I don’t want to have to tell them the only way to donate what they’re offering is to “drop it in a giant container behind the warehouse” like one Toys For Tots coordinator suggested.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under Monkey boys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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First of all, kudos on raising such great kids. Tyr the post office. Here in Philly, they get letters from families in need. You can pick out one or several that fit your criteria, and it is not annonymous. You contact the family directly. Good luck and Merry CHristmas.
Wow, you have such a generous heart and family, Lisa. What a lovely, wonderful gift to give your children: the example of compassion and caring. Big hugs to all y’all.
First of all, kudos on raising such great kids. Tyr the post office. Here in Philly, they get letters from families in need. You can pick out one or several that fit your criteria, and it is not annonymous. You contact the family directly. Good luck and Merry CHristmas.
Wow, you have such a generous heart and family, Lisa. What a lovely, wonderful gift to give your children: the example of compassion and caring. Big hugs to all y’all.