We are always in need of donations!
Toys, books and cuddly
toys in a good and clean condition are welcomed.
We are a registered charity and heavily reliant on fundraising, grants and donations to keep our Toy Library service running. This is becoming increasingly challenging in the current financial climate.
If you feel able to make a cash donation then it would be hugely appreciated and you can do this by visiting: https://localgiving.org/charity/mgrtoylibrary/
You can donate a percentage of any sales you make on ebay - just pick Merry Go Round Toy Library as your favourite charity when you are ready to sell something. More details on how to do this at: https://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebayforcharity/sell.html
You can also help by using easyfundraising each time you buy or search for something online and it won't cost you a penny! Just visit http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk to register and choose Merry Go Round Toy Library as your charity, then shop from over 2000 well known retailers.
Appeal to Local Businesses
We need more funders for both the current financial year and next year. If you would like to support the toy libraries, especially towards core funding, please contact us by emailing coordinator@mgrtoylibrary.org
Volunteering
If you would like to learn more about volunteering or becoming a committee member for the toy library please email: coordinator@mgrtoylibrary.org
Volunteers and Committee Members
Our volunteers and committee members come from a wide range of backgrounds, with different skills and abilities, many with that most important experience of being a parent. We are always on the lookout for new volunteers for both toy libraries, whether to work with the children and families directly or to assist with committee work and fundraising activities.
Volunteers
Everyone who helps our charity in a non-paid capacity is counted as a volunteer, including committee members. Apart from being on the committee, there are lots of other ways volunteers can support us including helping at fundraising events, toy library sessions or with publicity.
Volunteers use their specific skills as and when they feel they can – this can include making cakes for cake stalls, mending toys, taking leaflets and posters to toddler groups, helping at car boot sales, writing articles for the newsletter, updating toy databases, taking photos, publicity etc.
Tasks for volunteers helping in the toy libraries include:
Anyone who has an interest in supporting our charity and helping it become sustainable can help by getting involved with fund raising activities and ideas or with promotional events to raise our profile in the local community. We hope to hold one or two major fundraising events per year plus other smaller events.You can choose whether to work as part of a group or you might want to do something as an individual or family, or you could just make a donation. We welcome other organisations such as local companies to help support our toy libraries.
Committee members
Committee members are also Trustees of the charity and as such have responsibility for ensuring the toy libraries are run in accordance with the law and our Constitution. Committee members:
To ensure that vulnerable children are protected, we carry out a vetting procedure for any volunteers working directly with children or families and also for committee members. This involves security applying for a DBS, and character references.