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Toys for Tots

Tonight I had the honor of witnessing one of those little things that restores my faith in Christmas.

In a recent post on his blog, Bloopy mentioned that he didn't know of a Czech equivalent to the Toys for Tots drive we have in the States. I asked my boss, who pointed us to the fact that Český Rozhlas has put together a Christmas toy drive since 1999, donating toys to needy kids in orphanages and So we agreed that we would get together, buy some toys and donate them.

We met at Kotva, and while I was examining questionable toys like this one, Bloopy was off gathering toys by the armful. Multiple boxes of Legos, multiple doctor's kits, multiple tea sets.

His reasoning for which toys to buy was rock solid: no batteries, nothing that would put an eye out, nothing that would be bad for disabled kids. He also mentioned that he'd been at a couple of toy stores scoping out the goods.

When we arrived tonight at the drop-off point (Řimská 13, Prague 2, 9:00-18:00), the high school girls accepting the toys nearly had a heart attack when they saw Bloopy unload his bags, which were literally as much as a single human could carry.

They explained that many people viewed the toy drive as a way to dump unwanted junk; I personally saw a couple of boxes of what looked like old textbooks. I could hardly imagine a worse thing to give needy kids.

I'd like to thank Bloopy for performing a simple act of charity, and for leading by example. Those toys are definitely going to be appreciated.

The toy drive will end on Friday, so there's still time.

Posted by douglas at December 11, 2003 12:19 AM | TrackBack