This is a guest post from Sasha Lipton.
I started Second Chance Toys when I was in high school because it upset me to see good-as-new plastic toys on the curb for garbage day when I knew there were so many kids out there whose parents couldn’t afford toys. I also envisioned a big pile of toys in the landfill, knowing full well– that throwing out these plastic toys presented a hazard to our environment.
I enlisted my mom – and her SUV — and we started retrieving these toys from the curb — one by one — until our basement was filled. I then cleaned and tagged them with notes for the new owners, and we delivered them to a local family violence. I referred to it as “love recycled.”
Fast-forward 8 years and Second Chance Toys has distributed nearly 200,000 toys to children in need and touching more than half a million kids – and future generations with a cleaner earth. We have saved about 40 tons of non-biodegradable waste from our landfills.
The great thing about Second Chance Toys is that it’s not only the kids who receive the toys that benefit. The children and families donating the toys get a different kind of gift like I did. They get the gift of giving – and honestly there is nothing that feels better than helping someone else.
Through a very special corporate partnership with Kidville, we are teaching families the importance of being part of this ‘love recycled’ movement. Kidville holds toy collections with us twice a year and hosts’ special recycling classes for young children that help them understand at a very young age the importance of re-using things.
One of the best things about the small idea I had is that it’s really contagious – everyone wants to join in and help. So we have created a template on our website that allows families and communities to do just that. If you want to donate, collect, or receive toys, we make it easy and tell you how to do it in your area. And we support these efforts with the help of corporate partners like 1-800-Got-Junk?, Kohl’s, Old Spice, Viacom and of course Kidville. We couldn’t continue our work without their help – and we are constantly looking for ways to expand our corporate family so we can increase our impact.
Right now our work is focused in the East (from Boston to Washington, DC) but we have empowered many to hold their own toy drives – so there are events going on now around the country and even on the other side of the world – in Sydney, Australia.
Anyone can participate – families, the community, businesses, and even high school students! All the tools are right on our website to make it easy to do give back in a special way!
After all, this is the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
Second Chance Toys
- 200,000 toys distributed
- 40 tons of non-biodegradable waste saved from our landfills
- More than 600,000 smiles delivered to deserving children
- Over 100 toy collections scheduled for this holiday
- Learn how you can get involved: www.secondchancetoys.org
Background:
- Second Chance Toys site: www.secondchancetoys.org
- Sasha Lipton explains SCT’s mission and story in her Huffington Post article “Recycled Love and a Second Chance”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-lipton/recycled-toys_b_2790775.html
- [Video] A Second Chance Toys Story: http://www.secondchancetoys.org/second-chance-toys-story
- [Video] Second Chance Toys Viacommunity Day Toy Drive, Earth 2013 in Times Square: http://vimeo.com/65670331
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