52 Lives

#20 300 chIldren

Request: New toys and books

This week we have taken on a huge task. We need to find 300 new toys or books to help spread some love to children going through very tough times.

Last week, we spoke to the CEO of an amazing charity called Tree of Hope. Tree of Hope works with families of sick and disabled children in the UK who need specialist surgery, treatment and therapy. They help by providing grants to enable families to obtain treatment which would not otherwise be available to them (either privately in the UK or abroad), and they also assist families with their individual fundraising efforts.

The sheer number of stories on their website is heartbreaking. We wanted to help, but didn’t know where to start.

Jeremy, Tree of Hope’s CEO, said something they have always wanted to do is to be able to send each child they help a birthday present to show them that there are people out there who are thinking of them and who care about them.

At such young ages, these children are facing some pretty scary situations. A birthday present may seem insignificant in the scheme of things, but sometimes small acts of kindness can make a big difference to someone’s state of mind.

And so, in collaboration with Tree of Hope, we want to help send each of the 300 children a birthday present during the next 12 months.

What We Need

1. Buy a toy or book (for a child aged 0 - 10 years)

Online might be easier – especially for non-UK people.

Some suggested sites (because of their cheap delivery) are:

www.bookdepository.com - free delivery

www.smythstoys.com/ - delivery is £2.99

www.johnlewis.com - delivery is £3.00

www.thetoyshop.com/ - delivery is £2.99

www.thebookpeople.co.uk - delivery is £2.95

2. Have it delivered to:

Tree of Hope - The Birthday Project

43A Little Mount Sion

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Kent, TN1 1YP

UK

3. Include a card or message if you like (this is optional)

Tree of Hope will include it when they send your gift to a child.

4. Send a quick email to let us know you've done it

So we have an idea of how many parcels to expect in the post

5. Spread the word!

Do you know of any businesses that might be willing to donate toys or books? With so many presents to find, we need all the help we can get!

You can find out more about Tree of Hope at www.treeofhope.org.uk

What We Did

We received more than 100 gifts of toys and books sent from kind strangers all over the world.

We also received a huge box of more than 300 children's books from the incredibly generous people at Sainsbury's.