A few weeks ago I was in the mood to clean, really clean Mila's room. She's an only child and Eddie is always buying her toys. She has so many toys that she has outgrown or that she never plays with. I tried starting an online group to swap toys with other parents, but it never took off. I remembered reading on facebook about some new homeless camps here in San Diego and that they needed toys for the kids that lived there. So I thought instead of donating these great, almost new toys to a place that was just going to sell them at a profit, I should donate them to these kids. I filled up about 3 garbage bags of stuffed animals, puzzles, dolls, and other toys. We also had a rocking horse and rocking ladybug Mila had outgrown.
The guy in charge of the donations at the camp was really excited when he saw the stuff we had because he knew the kids were going to enjoy the toys. We then asked if they had any new toys for Christmas and he said no. I said we have a charity and we have a lot of new toys at home waiting to be donated, we'll bring them here for Christmas. He said they had about 30 kids living in the camp, ranging in ages of Newborn to 14 years old. We plan on going to the camp next week and donating 30 toys for the kids Just Because.
**Update** I went by the homeless camp for the families right before Christmas and it was gone! I called and the lady told me they were able to find homes for all the families there. It made me very happy but I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to give the kids some toys. I ended up taking all those toys to The Polinsky Center because I know they could use them there.
