Giving Back

Are you willing to spread the holiday cheer this year?  You can make a difference for a young child in need, by brightening their holiday season. There are many children who are less fortunate and are not lucky enough to receive gifts for the holidays. Fortunately, there are plenty of fantastic organizations that give all of us the chance to give back.

Toys for Tots is one of the highest rated, successful, charitable organizations, which supports local communities to get involved and  collect toys for young children living in poverty during the holiday season. There are numerous sponsors for the organizations such as Macy’s, Disney, Hess, Build A Bear Workshop and the main contributor, which has participated for more than a decade, Toys “R”Us. These sponsors, as well as local businesses, will have collection boxes starting in October through December for you to drop off new and unwrapped toys for the children. Coordinators will pick up the toys and sort them into categories to make it easier to distribute to families by Christmas morning.

Even NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has encouraged many to participate with Toys for Tots for the past six years. With the benefit of social media in today’s generation, Shaq helped spread the word about the #PlayItForward Challenge. The #PlayItForward Challenge assisted Toys for Tots in a record breaking year, earning more than 220,00 toys for less fortunate children in 2014. This challenge requires those who participate to take a picture of themselves donating to Toys for Tots and then share it on their social media pages by hashtagging #PlayItForward. For each photo shared, Toys”R”Us also donates a toy to the Toys for Tots Foundation at equal value. Sharing these selfies is one easy way to spread the word to others to help participate in making a child’s Christmas morning one that they deserve.

Globe Santa is another great foundation, spreading a helpful holiday tradition throughout the Greater Boston Area. This foundation helps deliver toys and books to families of all denominations with children under the age of twelve. Globe Santa recommends a few ways to help give back and encourage other kids and their families to get involved as well! Such as sharing the Globe Santa link with friends or on social media, attending an event, creating your own event with your school or your neighbors, and lasty there is also Globe Santa wrapping paper that you can purchase to help support the cause. Any effort you can put into supporting a child this season will be making an important impact on children in need in your community.

Second Chance Toys is a environmental friendly organization to help rescue and recycle plastic toys for children in need. It ensures that toys are not going to waste and polluting our landfills with biodegradable plastic, as well as supplying young children who have few or no toys at all. This organization is an easy way to donate gently used toys while benefiting our environment as well. Second Chance Toys has drop off locations in the Greater Boston Area and they accept toys that are plastic only, clean and gently used; batteries need to operate and they do not accept missing parts, and parts that can fit through a toilet paper roll are considered too small. This organization is an easy way to recycle toys in good condition that you may not want or need anymore, while also brightening up another child’s holiday.

Lastly, Room to Grow is a foundation that helps support families with necessary supplies for babies from newborn to the age of three. This foundation helps give a baby a healthy start to a structured life. There are two locations, located in Boston and New York. The Boston location serves about 400 children per year. This program helps develop cognitive skills from the beginning of birth. They also supply health services, warm clothes, appropriate toys, books and etc. One long term goal Room to Grow promotes is striving to give these children a better chance to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Donating to this cause will ensure a baby in need is one step closer to a well-structured life ahead.

Giving back is important and the holiday season is a perfect time to do so. Giving back to children in need can help enhance a child’s learning development. Believe it or not, toys can help boost creativity, socialization, motor skills and emotional security. Donating apparel, especially gently worn clothes you have grown out of, will mean one less person suffering through a cold winter.

Tayla M.

Boston Tutoring Services