The sixth annual Holiday Toy Exchange will be held on December 9 and 10, 2016 at Smith Vocational High School, 80 Locust Street, Northampton. Toy donations will be collected Friday evening and will be available to the public free of charge at 10am Saturday morning. This event has become an important source of holiday gifts for residents on tight budgets; it also helps increase the lifespan of consumer goods which are often discarded before their usefulness ends.
Donated items must be clean, in working order and complete (no missing pieces). Donations will be accepted from the public from 5-8 PM on Friday, 12/9. The following items are sought: musical instruments; action figures/dolls; sports equipment & bicycles; books, games & puzzles; model kits & building toys; arts/craft kits & creative learning toys; cars & trucks; outdoor toys & structures; stuffed animals; electronic toys; video games & DVDs; and baby & preschool toys.
Collected toys will be offered to donor parents and residents referred by community agencies on early Saturday morning (12/10) and to the general public from 10-11am. Participants are asked to leave children safely at home in the care of others during the Saturday pick-up portion of the event. Unadopted toys will be donated for reuse or recycling at the close of the event.
The Toy Exchange is coordinated by the Northampton Department of Public Works and the Reuse Committee and is sponsored by the Northampton Public Schools/CFCE via grants from the MA Department of Early Education.
The average US citizen consumes twice as many goods as fifty years ago; and over 90% of goods produced for US markets find their way into the trash within six months. With these statistics in mind, there is little doubt that both Mother Nature and the entire abandoned-and-destined-for-the-incinerator cast of Disney’s Toy Story would whole-heartedly support this event.