Where to Donate Toys for Kids? 5 Places to Bookmark
How and where to donate toys when your kids outgrow them? Take note of these five platforms and brighten up someone's day with your donations.
“When I was a kid, my mom used to donate clothes on my birthday. I used to wonder why we do this just once a year,” Anushka, the founder of ‘Share at Door Step’ recalls thinking when she was younger.
Today, at the helm of affairs of a brand that encourages people to donate their old toys and clothes, life has come full circle.
If you’re a parent or a caregiver there are bound to have been numerous moments when you gazed at your child’s closet wondering how all these toys got there, and what you’re going to do with them as your little one grows. Well, the good news is that you can now use them to spread smiles.
Here are five places that accept old toys and redirect them to a child in need.
1. Share at Door Step
Once you clear out your stock of toys, schedule a pickup with the platform. The team will arrive at your doorstep, collect the items from you and take them to the centre from where they will be sent to relevant NGOs. To encourage the habit of donating, the brand has come up with a reward system. Be ready to be surprised by your act of charity!
Recalling her initial days of starting the brand, when she would carry out many collection drives, founder Anushka is proud of the model she has managed to build. As she noted in an interview with Your Story, “India is a society where ‘doing good’ is inherent and valued. All we are doing is providing an avenue for people and brands to channelise this positive attribute and thereby give back to society, and that for me is very satisfying.”
Donate here.
2. Happiee Souls
The platform is a one-stop solution for acts of goodness. Not only do they encourage donating old toys and clothes to NGOs, but also have an arm that facilitates buying products from NGOs to directly help the beneficiaries. For those looking to volunteer their time instead of things, the platform has a solution. All you need do is reach out to them and mention the kind of charitable organisation you’d like to visit. Rest assured they will make it happen.
The idea for such a model took shape in 2017 when Bengaluru resident Sonika Gahlot Nayak met disappointment while browsing through charity organisations where she could volunteer. What astonished her was the lack of geo-tagged credible places. Nayak thus decided to start Happiee Souls where this is made possible.
Donate here.
3. Goonj
Started by Magsaysay Award winner Anshu Gupta, Goonj aims to bridge the gap between the urban surplus and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. Since 1999, the platform has been using utility items as a tool to address crucial gaps in the rural infrastructure. All the materials collected are sent to the processing centres where they are segregated, repaired and packed before being sent to remote villages in India to bring smiles to people’s faces.
While clothing is the prime material encouraged for donation, the platform also encourages people to donate toys, utensils, stationery, etc.
Donate here.
4. Toy Bank
Vidyun Goel — the current incharge of operations at Toy Bank — was only seven years old when her parents introduced her to the concept of sharing her toys with neighbourhood kids who did not have any of their own. When Goel was 18, she began working with Toy Bank, a platform that helped her extrapolate that same idea.
As she notes on the website, “Our dedicated processing centres ensure each donated toy is checked for damage and is fixed if required. It is then cleaned and repackaged to make it ready for dispatch. Select toys are then distributed to kids based on their intellectual and emotional state/maturity while keeping in mind the age and gender of the kids concerned. Care is taken to ensure toys reach remote villages of India where the resources are pretty limited.”
Since its inception, Goel claims its toys have brought smiles to over 5 lakh kids.
Donate here.
5. DONATEinKIND
Everyone wishes to do good. However, this is not always possible for those who have limited financial means. To bridge this gap, DONATEinKIND came up with the idea of motivating people to donate items such as shoes, textbooks, toys, games, and even extra food to those who can benefit from it. The platform lists charitable organisations across India that accept donations. Those looking to donate can pick the organisation of their choice and drop their items off at the place.
Donate here.
Edited by Padmashree Pande.
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