Toy town: Truckloads of gifts gathered in appeal
Truckloads of children’s gifts from Ben 10 to Barbies and vouchers to video games have been piling into storage facilities across the country over the past few weeks, and are now awaiting distribution by St Vincent de Paul (SVP) to families in need in time for Christmas.
The gift drive was the brainwave of 2fm’s Ryan Tubridy, who joined forces with SVP “to make sure that no child is left without a toy on Christmas morning”.
“The response has been phenomenal,” said Tubridy show researcher Shay Byrne.
“There has been a huge increase in donations over the past two weeks, we have been getting gifts from children who have been saving up pocket money to buy a toy or from families who have pooled money together to buy a computer game for a child in need.
“We even got a letter from a family in Sligo that received help from St Vincent de Paul last year and because they were in a better position this year, enclosed a donation to help a family in need this Christmas.”
The toys and gifts were donated at more than 350 drop-off points for SVP conferences to distribute to families in their regions.
To mark the last day of the appeal, the Tubridy show was broadcast from the window of Arnotts in Henry Street Dublin, where gifts continued to pour in.
However, donations for the Toys for Tubs appeal are still being accepted at Iarnród Éireann stations nationwide until Sunday.
In addition to gifts, Mr Byrne added that some 400 people nationwide donated their time to become official Toys for Tubs ambassadors and promote the appeal in schools and businesses.
“It’s been great. St Vincent de Paul are absolutely delighted with what they have received, it will make Christmas for so many families, and it was such a success that we would love to see it become a template for next year.”
lA list of Iarnród Éireann stations that are still accepting toys can be found at http://2fm.rte.ie/tft
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