Local Programs

 

The 5th - 8th graders who comprise the Youth Ministry at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Doylestown, PA decided they wanted to help Second Chance Toys with a toy drive of their own this holiday season. The results were astounding!  The kids collected and cleaned 637 toys which Second Chance Toys will donate before Christmas to deserving kids throughout Bucks County and Philadelphia, PA.  Kyle and Cara Scott who founded Second Chance Toys of PA, met with the kids at Mount Carmel to discuss how their charitable efforts will pay off to help both the environment and so many children who are in need this holiday season. What a blessing!

 
Despite a continuing drone of bad economic news and job losses, New Yorkers on the Upper East Side turned out in droves to support Second Chance Toys’ holiday toy drive. 
 
With the help of Glenwood Management, builder, owner and operator of more than 20 luxury apartment buildings, and Agata & Valentina, purveyor of gourmet & specialty foods, the UES neighborhood came to life this week.  
 
Second Chance Toys rescued nearly 150 gently used plastic toys that most certainly would otherwise have been destined for a local landfill.  Instead, these toys are being recycled through donations to disadvantaged families.  Organizations like Homes for the Homeless, which provides shelter for needy families at 5 NYC locations, is finding a second chance for these non-biodegradable plastics and bringing joy & happiness to needy families at the holidays. 
 
According to Jocelyn Goldberg, founder of the Second Chance Toys’ NYC chapter, "It's touching to see young kids offering up their favorite toys to children they know need them more." 
 
Later this month, big business steps up too with toy drives at Intercontinental Hotels Barclay NY location and Marks Paneth & Shron LLP -- a 500 person regional Accounting & Professional Services firm.  These drives are being integrated into this year’s holiday celebrations in an effort to give back to the community.  1-800-Got-Junk? will provide transportation for donations and deliver toys to their new homes in the NY City area.

A truck load of Second Chance Toys was donated to the Boll Family Center at the Detroit YMCA where Lori Bright, Child Development Center Director at the Boll Family YMCA and Lori Z. Bahnmueller, Senior Vice President, Marketing were on hand to accept the toys.
"The team at YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit were fabulous to work with and the event was a great success. The children were on hand to accept the toys with smiles a mile long" notes Deb Jones of 1-800-Got-Junk? who was responsible for collecting and donating the toys to the center.

For our first Chicago effort, 450 gently used plastic toys were collected by Cartridge World Stores in Illinois and were transported by 1-800-Got-Junk? to the Good And Green Conference where they were on display to demonstrate what could have ended up in the landfills.  The toys were then transported to the South Side YMCA in time for the holidays.
 

Standing in front of the display at the Chicago Cultural Center are Cheryl Furstoss and Barbar Esterquest of Cartridge World, Linda Dean of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, Chris Coleman of 1-800-Got-Junk? and Sasha Lipton, founder of Second Chance Toys.
   
Sasha Lipton presents a certificate of appreciation to Nan McCann, president PME Enterprises, producers of the Good And Green Conference held at the Chicago Cultural Center where Sasha Lipton presented the accomplishments and future goals of Second Chance Toys.

 
Members of the New Jersey Children's Museum (above) collected over 240 toys as part of their Holiday Toy Drive to benefit Head Start in Bergenfield, NJ. The museum received tremendous feedback from customers who were all thrilled that they were collecting "used" toys since most toy drives this time of year expect a new toy. Customers were equally pleased to hear that the toys were going to local area children in need. The donated toys we're transported by the local 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Franchise Partner of New Jersey Northeast to the Headstart Center (below). 
 

 

 

Sasha Lipton, founder of Second Chance Toys, will present a donation of toys to the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago on Wednesday, December 3rd . The donation will take place at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of the Good And Green Marketing Conference.

Five branches of Cartridge World have served as drop-off locations for plastic toy donations around Chicago and its suburbs and area businesses have also participated in toy rescue refforts. 

The toys will be piled in a huge mound in the rotunda of the Chicago Cultural Center to demonstate how many toys are thrown needlessly into the landfills.
 
Second Chance Toys, founded in 2006, has donated over 10,000 toys which has helped minimize plastic going into landfills while at the same helping children. This award-winning organization has been recognized for the waste-need solution it provides to communities.

   
 

Evergreen School in Scotch Plains, NJ teamed up with Second Chance Toys to put the "giving" in Thanksgiving. The students collected gently used plastic toys and donated them to Union County Social Services for the 3,000 families in need. The fourth graders tagged the toys and wrote special wishes on the back of each tag.

   
Five Cartridge World Stores will be collecting toys from through December 1 to benefit the Chicago YMCA for distribution to needy families.

 
Second Chance Toys is bringing the joy of the holidays to over 1,000 homeless children with its first Thanksgiving toy drive on New York’s Upper East Side.  Proceeds will be donated to Homes for the Homeless serving over 500 homeless families each day at four locations throughout the city.  Homes for the Homeless is the nation's largest provider of residential, education and employment training centers.  Jocelyn Goldberg, 13-year old behind Second Chance Toys of NYC, recruited classmates from her school and their families to run drives at each of their own apartment buildings in the neighborhood.  Jocelyn says, “ I am thrilled to bring cheer to less privileged families and to do something special that will put the “giving” back into Thanksgiving.  I know plastic toys eventually find their way into landfills.  Recycling is good for the environment and it helps preserve our planet.”  To find a new home for your gently used plastic toys, contact Jocelyn at JocelynSCT@nyc.rr.com.

S.H.I.E.L.D. (Students Helping in Education Leadership and Diversity), a program of Psi Sigma Phi Multicultural Fraternity, is spearheading a Second Chance Toys collection at University Academy Charter High School in Jersey City, NJ.
The principles of the group are to provide service to the community, promote leadership development in young males, to promote cultural awareness of themselves as well as their peers and to better prepare for life after high school. They group plans to donate the toys in the following Thanksgiving to the Head Start program in Jersey City.
For any further information about S.H.I.E.L.D. program, please email the faculty adviser to the group, Angel Cora: phiman71@hotmail.com.