Toybank, a non-profit organization was initiated by Ms. Shweta Chari, an Electronics Engineer,
on August 15th, 2004 with a vision where all children have a happy and healthy childhood.
The aim of Toybank is to provide toys to children who come from a weak socio-economic
background. A small idea that started in a small restaurant in Bombay has over the years
gathered momentum with the help and support of friends and volunteers from all across Bombay.
Within a shortest span of time and very minimal resources, it is bringing smiles on thousands
of deprived faces. It acts as a leveler of the society by taking toys from those that can give and
distributing them to the ones in need.
It addresses a very subtle subject in the social arena for children. It is a powerful challenge that
it is undertaking which is almost always over-looked by many of us who are in the process of
change. It provides infinite happiness in the lives of children and gives them a chance to dream,
to come out of their shells, and to be children once again.
Through the activities of Toybank, we can witness clear changes in many of the children it has
reached out to. It can be seen that many children now have learnt the importance of sharing,
of being more sensitive towards their environment, of respecting their elders and even their
brothers and sisters, of controlling their temper and most of all through the toys they receive
from Toybank, they have again become children, happy and joyous just as how children should
be.
Play is very important in a child's learning and emotional development and provides a wide array
of benefits. Play gives children fun and joy, play develops a child's personality, helping them to
realize their potential and experience the satisfaction of success. It opens them to creativity and
imagination and helps develop speech, reading, thinking, problem solving and fine motor skills.
Play is also integral to helping a child manage emotions; develop values and understand and
interpret the world around them.
These observations and studies is a convincing fact in itself that there is a definite need for an
organization such as Toybank. The fact that each day we meet and see so many kids around
the slums in Bombay and across India who are either homeless or left on the streets to fend for
themselves, these kids that sit on the pavements playing with stones or broken toys or cycle tires,
overwhelms us to immediately fill in that need, the need of a proper and a rightful childhood. It
dreams to place a toy in the hands of every poor child of India and the world. The followings are
the goals of Toybank.
To ensure that children from under privileged backgrounds receive toys through
collection and distributions.
• To bridge the gap between children from different backgrounds by creative play/group
events/community events.
• To make play space available for children through-- Toy libraries in available
infrastructures; reclaim open public spaces for children.
• To impart education and values through a Toy curriculum; play groups; children's
parliament.
• To design and thus provide toys that will be context specific, by having toys made in
local languages as well.
It attempts to prove the belief of John.F.Kennedy, 'If the free society cannot help the many
that are poor, it can never save the few who are rich.'
By encouraging the rich children to donate and by giving back the lost childhood of the
poor, it tries to nurture the good qualities of children.
• Street children in Mumbai get into immoral habits like drugs and alcohol abuse and
go wayward at a very impressionable age, mainly due to the lack of attention from the
parents and society. They feel they are neglected and firmly believe they are unworthy of
living. It tells them that they too are normal and that they too have rights just like the rest
of us do.
• It honestly dreams to place a toy in the hands of every poor child of India and the world.
The toy shapes the psyche of the children, so utmost care is taken to give only unbiased
and morally correct toys to children.
• The idea is to get everybody to take responsibility of their actions. It is for individuals
partnering with it to thus realize the importance of giving and for their children to in turn
develop good habits of sharing and caring for their society and the world as a whole.
• By simple means of toys, the social mindset that the society holds against street children
or children in labor will be impacted. Both the Toy donors as well as the Toy recipients
shall understand the significance of respecting and valuing one another as human beings
as they should be.
By giving a toy to a child, a child's mind is set free to think beyond its circumstances.
The child feels cared for and feels one with the world again.
Toybank has reached out to around 11,000 children by means of toys in 4 cities till date. It
dreams of working harder and scaling up its reach in the years to come. Recently they have also
established a Toy Library at a Govt. School in Mumbai, and 4 play centers in NGOs.
Toybank has also gone international. They have tied up with Early Childhood Development
Center (ECDC) to send across toys to children from Changzamtok lower secondary school
in Thimphu, Bhutan. With the help of a Toybank volunteer at Bhutan and ECDC they are
continuing the Toy Library and planning to establish more such Libraries in Schools of Bhutan.
Toy Donation tips and norms
•Please donate only those toys which are clean and in good condition and not ones which
are broken or non functional.
• They accept new toys in case you do not have old or used toys in good condition.
• Please do not donate toys with sharp edges or those that promote violence. Ex – toy guns,
pistols, war toys
• Please do not donate Barbie dolls. They think it's a lifestyle toy that could engender
negative self-image in children.
• They accept all kinds of soft toys, cars, bikes, board games, puzzles.
• Please do not donate Teether toys.
• They also accept stationery items like crayons, color paints, water colors, etc
• If you are donating toys that run on batteries, please ensure new batteries are placed in
the toys prior to dropping them off in the toy collection boxes.
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