Toy industry comes together to help kids in need
Employees and executives from across the toy industry joined volunteers to help commemorate National Foster Care Month and help children in need at the second annual Toy Industry Foundation and My Stuff Bags Foundation’s "Do Good Stuff-a-Thon.
More than 125 volunteers from Disney, Educational Insights, Funrise, Jakks Pacific, Mattel, Pacific Play Tents and The Piggy Story came together to fill 5,000 duffel bags with toys, toiletries and handmade blankets. The bags that will go to various agencies across the country that rescue abused and neglected children.
Other companies that couldn’t attend, like Hasbro, iToys and Schoenhut Piano Company, donated various items for the bags.
"So many children rescued from terrible environments enter shelters with absolutely nothing: no special blanket or stuffed animal to distract them from their pain," said Janeen Holmes, president and CEO of My Stuff Bags.
Organizations like Florida’s Kids Central and Texas’ A World for Children are already scheduled to receive donated bags, which will be distributed by the My Stuff Bags Foundation.
"Toymakers love to bring the joy of play into children’s lives, and it’s even more fulfilling when we see smiles and hear laughter coming from kids who are entering foster care or are in similarly difficult situations," said Jean Butler, executive director of the Toy Industry Foundation.
The Toy Industry Foundation has committed to give $400,000 and donate 50,000 new toys to My Stuff Bags over the next two years, and it has also developed partnerships with the Boys and Girls Clubs and Easter Seals.
Earlier this month members of the TIF visited the Murphy Canyon Youth Center in San Diego, California to give toys to more than 2,000 military family members stationed in the area. Since 2003, the industry has donated more than $50 million in new toys for children’s charities.