What Happens Next? A Toy’s Journey with TIF

The Toy Industry Foundation works year-round to bring joy, comfort, and learning to children in need. The Toy Bank, TIF’s signature program, collects toys from companies in the industry and finds them the perfect home through hundreds of agencies in the Toy Bank network.

See what three agencies in the Toy Bank network had to say about the impact of their gifts from TIF:

• Metro Kidz – Los Angeles, CA
  Metro Kidz received toys four times throughout 2011, allowing them to provide for children in Title I Schools, low-income neighborhoods, and social service programs in the Los Angeles Area. “Cynthia, a single mom with three girls, commented how she would not be able to afford these toys of gifts for her girls. They don’t even sell these kinds of toys around here.”
  
  
• In the Image – Grand Rapids, MI
  Nearly 9,000 children from low-income families spanning three cities in Michigan received Toy Bank toys last year. “After I escorted the family from Burundi to our toy distribution area, one of the girls chose a bug catcher and some great DVDs – she finally had a smile. She had been a victim of female mutilation, and one of her favorite activities before this life changing action was to catch fireflies and put them in boxes. The bug catcher brought her back to the youth that was taken from her.”
  
  
• Lower Eastside Service Center, Inc – New York, NY
  One woman came to the Center in need of toys during the holidays, prompting the agency to apply to the Toy Bank network. As a result, approximately 800 children of individuals in Lower Eastside Service Center’s residential & out-patient empowerment programs benefitted from Toy Bank toys. “You are providing the hope these kids so desperately need. You are showing these kids that there are people who do care.”

These agencies and hundreds more in our network are grateful for TIF’s work and the generosity of our donors.

If you know of a charity that could benefit from brand new toys donated by the toy industry, please refer them to www.thetoybank.org where they can apply to join the Toy Bank Network.