This Valentine's Day, Toybankers in Mumbai gave away some toys. And got a whole lot of love!
Toybank held another card making session for the kids at Mobile Creches centre in Borivali. The kids made beautiful cards on Valentine's Day for their loved ones.
Durga: "My first volunteering activity started with Toybank. I came to know about this through Shweta Chari. I found donating old or new toys to the less fortunate kids a unique cause which was fantastic and incredible. After going through the Toybank's website and blog, without a second thought I felt determined to volunteer for Toybank and I loved to see whether I could be involved with such a cause.
I just simply emailed on Toybank's website that I could support a cause I cared about. I heard from Farnaza through an e-mail about the event details of Toybank and I became a volunteer.
Ekta: "There's something about giving toys to little children that makes you realize that Christmas doesn't always come in December.
On a sunny afternoon of February the 14th, we made our way across a dusty construction site to a small bumbling structure called the baalwaadi. Painted with giraffes and school buses in a myriad of colors, it was a sight for sore eyes. As each of us entered the classrooms, we were greeted with cheery 'Good Aaaaaaaaafternoon, teeeeeeeacher!, and we knew it was going to be a great day.
The children were excited, curious and most of them eager to begin right away. We divided them into age-appropriate groups and told them what we were going to be doing that day. Not too familiar with the idea of Valentine's Day, we started off with asking their names and what they wanted to do when they grew up.
The answers ranged from doctors, policemen, teachers and engineers. But the one answer common amongst them when asked who they loved the most was their parents. And so with that thought in mind we passed around plain folded cards. And after about 40 minutes of intense but creative brainstorming, drawing, and painting, the children proudly showed off their beautiful cards dedicated to their mummies, papas, behens and bhaiyas, expressing their love for them.
Meanwhile, the younger of the lot, i.e., the babies in the next classroom napped, indulged in educational activities and laughed away with Toybankers as the afternoon quickly passed us by.
Once the greeting cards were fussed over, it was time for what we did best.GIVE TOYS!!!!!!
Our one brown cardboard box filled to the brim with goodies stood in a corner. As we started passing around the newspaper-wrapped toys, the kids wondered what was in them. Excited, but a little hesitant.
It was when the newspaper was ripped away that their eyes completely lit up, their smiles broadened, the excitement kicked up a notch and you could hear their laughter a mile away. They jumped around, showing each other what they had got and played right away with their new toys. A toy camera, a skipping rope, a racquetball set, a truck, a yellow teddy bear.