New York Parenting: Recycled love and pro-social millennials

Her desire to help kids in need went hand-in-hand with her green attitude, and gradually evolved into a vision. And it all started with a couple of discarded, rescued, and recycled plastic toys that she donated for the holidays.

Sasha Lipton grew up in a New Jersey town, about a half-hour outside of Manhattan. In 2006, at age 15, she looked around her and saw a lot of sadness — families living in nearby communities who were struggling to put food on the table and couldn’t afford to buy toys for their kids. She felt compassion for them and decided to take action.

Fast forward eight years. Thanks to Second Chance Toys, the organization that Lipton founded as a teen, nearly 200,000 gently used, donated toys have been distributed to local organizations serving kids in need, like Head Starts and family shelters. In so doing, Second Chance Toys has helped keep 40 tons of non-biodegradable plastic out of our landfills.

Lipton calls her movement “recycled love and a second chance.” Full Story