It’s almost that time of year again, and organizers of the Jansen Christmas Toy Drive are hard at work making sure that 1,000 children in London get a special Christmas — and they’re hoping Londoners will help take part in their eighth annual donation drive.
The goal for the toy drive is to help 1,000 kids across four elementary schools who will be the recipients of the Christmas gifts and blessing bags.
The donation drive runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 4, and delivery of the gifts occurs later in December.
Organizers are looking for gently used, nearly new or new toys, crafts, books, games and stuffed animals. Because the 13+ age demographic can be a challenge to collect for, organizers are looking for art supplies, age-appropriate electronics, sports equipment, winter clothes, make-up and hair supplies.
How did the initiative first get started?
Organizer Meaghan Jansen says it first started eight years ago when her son Jacob, then in first grade, had an idea about giving toys to kids in need. He wrote a letter to his class asking for his friends to bring in any toys, books or games that they no longer wanted for donation, and thus began a “kids helping kids” campaign.
To this day, children are asked to go through their belongings and find items to donate that other children might enjoy.
“Many families have so much and kids play with items only a few times and then it’s on to something else,” Jansen explains. “We take those items and match them to children in our community of like age/gender.”
In addition to receiving four to five gifts, children in need also receiving a “blessing bag” which contains person hygiene items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, soap and deodorant.
Jansen says the list of the 1,000 kids who receive the gifts are drawn up by collaborating with local schools, youth groups, shelters and drop-in centres.
Because the initiative has grown into such a “massive community effort,” Jansen says there are multiple drop zones located across the city for people to drop off their donations.
All items make it into the Jansen home, where they are then sorted by local elementary school kids.
"The kindness and generosity of our community far exceeds our expectations every year," the Jansen's say on their GoFundMe page.
Information on how to donate can be found on the Jansen Christmas Toy Drive Facebook page, or on their GoFundMe page.
