Doing the Big Toy Clear Out?

More than 280 towns and suburbs have a Toy Library and they love donations. In fact they love them so much that they not only maintain their collections with hours of volunteer effort but they also repair, replace parts and let children borrow them for many years. When I'm not working for Sorting Sal I also do voluntary work at our local, Ballarat Toy Library and I've seen toys there like many libraries that have been there for over 20 years and kids still run in to play on them. According to their Facebook page, the Ballarat Toy Library (link to their Facebook page is supplied below) accepts donations if:

"Okay - who's stuck inside and clearing out the toy box or rearranging the house? We love donations to the Ballarat Toy Library and have some fabulous toys in the library because of your generosity. We can only however accept them if you agree to the following policy:

- Donations can only be accepted during opening times between 10am and 12am on a Tuesday or Sunday and we reserve the right as we are a very small team of volunteers to decline the toy/s/donation on any grounds if we need to. At the time, If we can use them, then we will ask you to give us verbal permission to: 1. Take ownership of the toy/s/items and use it in the collection/library straight away or after processing if we wish to.

2. Decide to hold onto it for use as a spare part item.

3. To sell the item to raise funds for other expenses.

4. To give the item/s to others (usually charity Op Shops) that may need it. We will also be posting a WISH LIST of items that we definitely know we need to find that you might not think are valuable to any one - such as Little People Figures even if they are separated from their sets - to help give you an idea."

So, if you're seeing good useable toys yet kind of feel a bit funny about giving them to the op shops or dumping useful things for some reason - why not make a little one smile by bringing it down to the library - address available on their Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/ballarattoylibrary

Or if you're still not sure then you might like to know more about Toy Libraries and how they work you can check out these little snippets from Toy Libraries Australia that is the peak body for them:

What is a toy library? https://youtu.be/ElmQTpa_UpQ

Where do they get the toys from? https://youtu.be/lCCkUnNVoYo