Raising teens and and a precocious 11 year-old (seriously, with 3 older siblings, how could she not be?) we've weeded through and donated many of their toys to various neighborhood fundraisers or local charities, here in New Jersey, over the years.
My parents bought a backyard playhouse for my oldest, when I was expecting our middle girl (because, I still use my pregnancies as a timeline), and my husband insisted we "do something with it" since my youngest couldn't fit inside it any longer.
We cleaned it up, put it to the curb, then helped a couple load it up into their truck and take it home for their grand kids to play with.
It made letting go of it -- not to mention, ALL those memories of mud pies and onion grass soup -- a little easier to know that our old playhouse would be put to good use...all over again.
I was contacted by the representatives of Second Chance Toys (started by a teenage girl in Mountainside, New Jersey), that rescues thrown away plastic toys, cleans them and then redistributes them to children in need.
They've asked that we help expand their reach nationally in an effort to help needy kids all across the country.
Here's their story:
