Thank you for donating toys to the children of Haiti and giving me a reason to actually write my first blog entry!
As some of you may know, I am going to be in Haiti shooting a documentary next week and I will be spending a great deal of time at the pediatric hospital as well as visiting orphanages. I really wanted to bring some small toys with me to give the children. So many people graciously asked how they could send down toys with me, so I found a way even the smallest donation will make a huge difference in many children’s lives.
The Toy Connection on line has offered to gather the orders for me and ship them all together, so that I may bring them with me on the plane and hand them out personally. They specialize in small toys for parties and gift bags in bulk at wholesale prices.
I chose a few items that I think will appeal to the largest age group. They are listed below. Please stick with these items as I don’t want to overwhelm the children with too many choices and I selected them for the variety inherent in the grouping and size.
Stickers are one of the items. Please feel free to pick out any kind you like, just try and stay away from any that appear to have a lot of red in them. Red is a very negative color if you are in mourning in traditional Haitian culture.
TOYS FOR HAITI
Bendable Animals – item name: BENAN
link: http://bit.ly/BendableAnimals
Die Cast Cars – item name: DICAR
link: http://bit.ly/DieCastCars
Animal Finger Puppets – item name: ANFP
link: http://bit.ly/AnimalFingerPuppets
Zoo Animal Coloring Set – item name: ZOOCLR
link: http://bit.ly/ZooColoringBook
Sticker – pick your own favorite for a child
link: http://bit.ly/MixedStickers
You can also go to the main page http://www.toyconnection.com and search the items above from there using either their full name or the item name.
If you don’t want to order online, you can call the Toy Connection toll free between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm east coast time.
Inside the USA: 1-877-TOY-TOY1 (869-8691) or outside the USA: 1-516-371-9206
This is the important part: You must place your order by 3 pm on Sunday March 21 for me to be able to receive the toys on time for my departure for Haiti.
NEW – SPECIAL NOTE: ALL SHIPPING COSTS WAIVED. CHECK OUT OF COUNTRY OR IF ANY OTHER METHOD, YOU WILL BE CREDIT BACK FOR SHIPPING.
Just place the order as you would any other order but in the shipping address write:
Amanda Lin Costa
730 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044-1603
(973) 857-3222
IMPORTANT: Specify c/o VINTAGE ALLEY – HAITI in the company name line and check destination OUT OF COUNTRY.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a dear friend of mine’s store and she is kind enough to let me have the toys delivered there so that I know they will be received in case I am running around that day. Stop by and thank her personally or buy one of her amazing vintage dresses if you are in the area!!
I really appreciate all the support everyone has given me and the heartfelt kindness of sending gifts to the children. One of the few times even $5.00 will make a big impact.
I will be meeting lots of great organizations that work in Haiti and visiting orphanages. If anyone would like to help further the children of Haiti please email me and I will make sure I connect you with a great organization or individual that is making a difference down there.
I set up an email for anything related to the toys so if you have any questions about any of the above please email me at: Toys4KidsHaiti@gmail.com
Again great thanks to all who donate toys.
If you would like to follow my adventures in Haiti please do so on Twitter. I am TheLoneOlive
The Lone Olive 