Houston Nesties
missjake
member
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Donating toys
What are some good charities to donate new toys to? I'd like to do some research before choosing. Bonus if a 5 year old can help me deliver them so she can experience it.
Re: Donating toys
This was on the news this morning. Brought me to tears...
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/health/111201-a-heart-like-hers
Here is the foundation and they are accepting donations this weekend at a toy drive: http://www.ahlh-foundation.org
BFP #3 -mm/c @ 7wks, discovered at 9wks, D&C 9/28
Current Status: TTA
~~PGAL/PAL Always Welcome!~~
DePelchin Children's Center is a wonderful charity (it's the orphanage, to use archaic terms).
While there are very few charities where kids can go and hand gifts directly to other children in need (lots of issues there, i'm sure... can't do it at hospitals for infection control reasons)... the intake volunteers at DePelchin's headquarters took claire and connor back to see all the stuff that had been donated, and thanked them personally for taking the time to shop for the other kids. I was very impressed with the way they treated my kids! Not just "thanks, here's your tax receipt".
my photography blog
You could go to a salvation army and donate toys.
For her age to "experience" the difference between having and not having could be to maybe run into target for something simple, perhaps swinging by the toy section and commenting on just how MUCH is there.
Then go into the Salvation Army store and explain to her that her toys she is donating will be sold there for kids whose parents cannot afford to buy the toys from Target. Salvation Army stores do a good job at keeping their stores clean and attractive but they can't help that it just SMELLs old in there. The sea of pink and then blue is not there - toys are sort of haphazardly placed there.
And if you go when a lot of families are shopping there she will likely see other kids who aren't dressed as nicely or don't have as nice of a coat or whatever. It *may* help her appreciate what all she has that others don't have.
I dunno - like with the last charity post, there are just so many risks associated with direct contact between giver and receiver that it is just generally not allowed until age 8 and older.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
http://holidayproject.depelchin.org/DefaultPhase2.aspx
DePelchin Children's Center Holiday Project
I have a couple that are close to my heart because of my dad's involvement with them (so I'm biased, but these are GREAT organizations).
One is Boys and Girls Country (NOT Club) out in Hockley. It's a home for kids who, for some reason or another, either have parents who can't take care of them (death, prison, drugs, etc etc). They live on campus and go to school, have chores, etc. I asked people to bring donations for them instead of gifts for Char's first birthday, and I took it out there to them. The only problem is, that's a bit far (it's off 290).
Another is the YMCA. I did the same toy donation thing for Charlotte's 3rd birthday, and took a boatload of stuff out to the child care center at Lee High School on Hillcroft. They have a built-in child care center for the students' kids, and they can use ALL the help they can get, including toys.
DePelchin is always great, as PPs have mentioned.
Houston Area Women's Center is another good one. They have kids there whose mothers have had to take them and leave their homes due to domestic violence, and I know they can always use toys for those kiddos. Houstonmom used to work there, so maybe she can chime in if she sees this and fill in any blanks.