Thousands of donated toys finally find a home
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EDMONDS, Wash. - It sounded like a no-brainer. The local charity in Edmonds, MS Helping Hands, collected thousands of toys and teddy bears. Then it was a matter of finding a good home for them.
The hope was to get the toys to the kids on the Gulf coast.
Not as easy as you would think: "That's right, I threw my hands up in the air," says Bill Brayer who runs the Donor Closet, a non profit organization in Edmonds.
Bill, who is 74 and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis twenty years ago, sent out thousands of e-mails asking for help finding a home for the stuffed animals.
"It was very difficult because no one wants anything but money and brand new items," says Brayer.
His non-profit had donated 22,000 toys in the past, after Hurricane Katrina. The charities wanted them then, but not now.
Finally after six weeks, an agency in Florida responded. "The timing is perfect," an executive with 'Communities in Schools of Jacksonville' wrote in an e-mail.
The toys and teddy bears will go to the kids who survived February's tornadoes that killed 20 in Florida.
"And they're going to distribute them all over the gulf states," says Brayer.
A happy ending. Finally.
How you can help
Contact MS Helping Hands at 425-712-1804 or e-mail info@mshelp.org
The hope was to get the toys to the kids on the Gulf coast.
Not as easy as you would think: "That's right, I threw my hands up in the air," says Bill Brayer who runs the Donor Closet, a non profit organization in Edmonds.
Bill, who is 74 and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis twenty years ago, sent out thousands of e-mails asking for help finding a home for the stuffed animals.
"It was very difficult because no one wants anything but money and brand new items," says Brayer.
His non-profit had donated 22,000 toys in the past, after Hurricane Katrina. The charities wanted them then, but not now.
Finally after six weeks, an agency in Florida responded. "The timing is perfect," an executive with 'Communities in Schools of Jacksonville' wrote in an e-mail.
The toys and teddy bears will go to the kids who survived February's tornadoes that killed 20 in Florida.
"And they're going to distribute them all over the gulf states," says Brayer.
A happy ending. Finally.
How you can help
Contact MS Helping Hands at 425-712-1804 or e-mail info@mshelp.org
