Every month, Toybox tells the story of a supporter who who has been actively raising money to help fund our work with street children in Latin America. We are so grateful to every one of our faithful supporters and all that they do for the children. If you have a story or a tale to tell about your fundraising efforts, let us know! You might be the next Fundraiser of the Month...

A big Toybox thank you to:

Paul and Barbara Sylvester

Paul & Barbara Sylvester along with Mutley the dog and friends Jean and Lee took to Fargate shopping centre in Sheffield to raise awareness and make some noise about the street children in Latin America!

The day was a great success as they spoke to passers by about Toybox and the work we do with street children in Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru. Michael’s story (read more here) was given out and shared with many people, as well as sweets for the children passing by.

Thanks to their charm, hard work and bright pink t-shirts, Paul and Babs managed to raise a massive £70! Well done!

Babs comments “It went GREAT!!! Mutley went down a treat, not only with the kids but he also got several hugs from teenagers. They wanted pictures on their mobiles - so we 'suggested' a 50p donation in exchange for a hug from Mutley. They agreed!!”

Many thanks to Paul & Barbara who did a fantastic job in organising this event – well done! Without the hard work of wonderful people like Paul and Babs, Toybox wouldn't be able to reach as many children, so keep it up guys, you're doing a great job. Together we can work towards a world with no street children!

Thank you Paul and Babs!

Amy Barnett

12 year old Amy Barnett from Bovey Tracey, Devon, has been working away creating beautiful jewellery which she has sold to raise money for the work of Toybox with street children in Latin America!

She held her stall as part of her Church craft fair at the end of November and raised an amazing £66.44! Well done Amy!

Amy and her Mum, Anne, were keen to raise awareness about the plight of street children and so they gave out lots of flyers and information about the work of Toybox.

Amy wants to make sure everybody knows about the street children, and by selling her jewellery and by telling people about the situations of children on the streets in Latin America, Amy is helping bring about real change.

It is through the generosity and willingness of people like Amy that we are able to reach more children on the streets every year, offering them love, care and the chance of a brighter future.

Thank you Amy!

 

Holy Trinity Ripon Young People

Holy Trinity Ripon have had an amazing year - since October 2008 they have held no less than 10 different fundraising events, and have raised a whopping £1700!!

The Church's young people have been learning about Toybox and even have a Toybox info board!

From toddlers to teenagers, all the gang at Holy Trinity Ripon have been busy raising awareness and vital funds for the street children.

These are the great events that HTR have held:

• A performance of a church-written musical, Let My People Go
• Biscuit Baking (the toddler to 5 year old group - the Scramblers!)
• A Bring and Buy Sale
• A Cake Stall
• Christmas Craft Day
• A Mile of Pennies
• A Coffee Morning and Sale of Recycled Christmas Gifts
• Personal Donation by individual young people (pocket money giving)
• Making and selling friendship bracelets
• A Latin American Meal with entertainment (Exodus youth group)

Phew! What an amazing list - sounds like they had a lot of fun!

The most recent event was organised and put on by the Exodus youth group - A Latin American Meal. The young people waited on their guests and made sure they were entertained. There was a Pinata game put on by some very impressive hairy-lipped ladies, and the tables were decked out to look truly opulent. The team served more than 50 guests and created all the food themselves. Amongst other things on the menu were ‘belly pork in chocolate sauce’ and tortillas.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of groups like Exodus and Scramblers and all the young people at HTR, Toybox is able to reach more children on the streets of Latin America, offering them food, shelter, comfort and above all, love and friendship.

Well done to all at HTR - we look forward to your next amazing event! There are rumours of a big Talent show in the New Year - Trinity's Got Talent, so if you're around the Ripon area, do get in touch with Holy Trinity to find out more!

Thank you to all at Holy Trinity Ripon!

 

Jenny Robertson

Jenny recently celebrated her 12th Birthday and held a Toybox 'Banquet for a Street Child' as part of the festivities! Jenny said it was "a tea party with a twist."

All the guests came wearing very bright colours to reflect the colours in the Toybox logo and everyone was given their own personal 'challenge'. Jenny says "mine was to skip everywhere and to say 'hedgehog' (my favourite animal) three times each time someone said the word Toybox. Someone else's challenge was to dance like a lunatic every time some one said the word 'sun', 'rain' or 'Thursday', which everyone exercised quite a lot."

Each of the challenges was rewarded with a sweet if carried out successfully. The sweets remaining at the end of the party were allocated 50p each by Jenny's Mum, raising a total of £11. The girls watched the Toybox DVD to learn a bit about street children, and many party games were played.

Party food was the order of the day, with carrot and cucumber sticks, hula-hoops, animal biscuits, bread with chocolate spread, peanut butter and jam. The girls also had some Latin American empanadas for a bit of extra Latin flavour. Jenny's cake (pictured left) was a wonderful Toybox cake, even with pink Toybox icing. Yummy!

Through the party games and festivities, Jenny and her friends raised £51! Jenny also asked her friends and family for donations to Toybox as a birthday gift instead of presents, all of which added up to an amazing £171!!

Jenny says: "I will continue to support Toybox as it is one of my favourite charities." Thanks to lovely people like Jenny and her family, more children out on the streets in Latin America will be able to have a safe place to stay with people to love and care for them.

 

Amy and Lois Roulson

Picture a house full of 14 girls - young, excited and ready to get pampered! Well, this was the situation in the Roulson household one sunny afternoon this summer. Amy and Lois organised a 'pamper party' - they painted tatoos, they did eachothers nails, they had their hair done - everything you can think of to feel utterly beautified. The girls also held a 'funky fruit on a plate' competetion - the most original idea won a prize. 'Mango Man' turned out to be the winner!

Amy and Lois's Mum, Helen made little boxes from recycled cards which each girl was given as a little keepsake from the afternoon, and she also made some cookies which were enjoyed by all. Amy says: "My school friends came, so did my Church girls. I hope this helps street children!"

Everyone had a great day and Grandma and Daddy gave some extra pennies to help out. There was a Toybox DVD running throughout the day so that the girls knew what their money was going towards.

Amy, Lois and friends raised a brilliant £28 to help rescue more street children in Latin America. Helen says: "We feel really happy that just a few pounds helps the cause"

 

Sam Brogan

Sam has been getting on his bike for the street children! What Sam has achieved, many people wouldn't even consider doing - Sam rose to the challenge of cycling 185 miles in only two days!

To start with, he cycled a mere 70 miles from Doncaster to Hull, but then jumped on a ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge and rode another 115 miles all the way to Haacht in Belgium as part of a school sports exchange - all in the space of two days!

Having heard about Toybox at his Church youth group, Sam decided that he would cycle 185 to raise money to help the street children of Latin America. What an amazing thing to do! Sam has managed to raise a massive £1000 - brilliant!

Without the effort, care and sheer will-power of people like Sam, Toybox wouldn't be able to change the lives of children living and working on the streets in Latin America, so thank you Sam, and keep on pedalling!

Turre Evangelical Church, Almeria, Spain

One of the congregation of Turre Evangelical Church, David Hay, has been a life-long Elvis fan. As many of us can appreciate, being 'all shook up' by Elvis Presley is a life-long passion, one which David and the team at Turre have had lots of fun with recently.

David performs his own 'Tribute to Elvis' show in local bars and restaurants, so it did not take very much persuasion from the church leaders to get him to stage a fundraising night for Toybox at the Kimrick restaurant in nearby Mojacar village.

The venue was offered free of charge by restaurant owners John and Carol, who also provided a buffet at cost price and threw in a meal for two as the raffle's 'star prize'.

The evening raised 250 euros which was matched by Turre Church resulting in a grand total of 500 euros for Toybox - that's £425!

A massive thank you to David, Marianne and Bob Wallbridge and all at Turre Church - thanks to you guys, it's "one for the money, two for the street, three for the kids and a Toybox treat, so don't you step on my blue suede shoes..."

Thanku vry muuuuch...

Kathryn Rowe!

Kathryn is from Harrogate, Yorkshire, and has been a Toybox nut for almost 3 years. Having encountered street children at New Wine 2006, Kathryn was captivated by their stories and from then was 100% determined that she was going to do something about it! And boy did she do something...

Kathryn first started by sending in 10% of any money she earned or received to help the street children. But that wasn't enough for her... She then held an Expresso party at her home with her friends (read more about Expresso here), but that still wasn't enough! 'Kourageous' Kathryn then persuaded her parents to let her hold a big Toybox stall which she filled with the Toybox handicrafts and sold them to her school friends, people at Church, her neighbours - anyone who she could find to tell about Toybox and the plight of street children. Since then, she has done stalls at many other places and with lots of new people, earning herself the name 'The Toybox Girl'!

Kathryn even managed to sell a very bright stripey woolly hat to her head teacher!! Kathryn says: "He didn’t buy one from the stall, but half way through my next lesson, (art), he came in and said very loudly, ‘Kathryn! I want to buy a hat! I want the stripy one! How much is it?’, so in the middle of an art lesson, I had to go to get my box of Toybox stuff and sold him a hat - he put it on and said, ‘How do I look?’ and the whole class burst out laughing!"

Kathryn is thinking about getting involved in Missionary work in Latin America, and so, being a girl who never does things by half, she has started learning Spanish at school. "I asked if it was possible for me to join the Spanish class, but was told definitely not because they were a year ahead of me, but I explained my reasoning and the teacher promised to speak to the head of the languages department about it. She got back to me a week later saying I could join the class if I caught up in the summer holidays." So guess what Kathryn did? Yes, that's right - she knuckled down, worked her socks off and managed to learn all of the year 8 Spanish during her holidays!! She found a tutor through some friends at Church, has joined the Spanish club at school and is now doing GCSE Spanish with a trip to Salamanca with her school next month. Is there no stopping this girl??!

Kathryn has raised over £400 for Toybox and is planning more events in the near future. Her final thoughts seem to sum up her enthusiasm and willingness:

"Next year I’ll be leading the CU at school, even though I’ll be one of the youngest members. What a privilege it is to be given the opportunity to serve God in this way!! Anyway enough about me, what are YOU going to do for Toybox?"

St Mary's Church Barcombe!

The Christingle service just before Christmas was an afternoon of fun and laughter at St Mary's Church, Barcombe as the children got busy fundraising for the street children.

Heather Shepheard, the Mission Giving Committee Secretary says "A month in advance of this the children were all given button tubes (obtained from a local Haberdashery shop) and covered with Christmassy paper and Toybox labels. Each tube contained a lollypop as an incentive and the children were asked to fill them with small coins and loose change from home. The local school also took part and together we raised £362.84 in this venture. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed taking part!"

£40 was also raised through a coffee morning held at the Church, and the Church raised a further £500 through mission giving donations. That's a total of £903.84!!

With the support of wonderful people like those at St Marys, Toybox can reach more children in more places out in Latin America. Thank you to all those very special Barcombe people who have fundraised for Toybox and for the children - we are very grateful for your love, support and prayers. Keep up the great work!

Hereford Cathedral Junior School

The children at Hereford Cathedral Junior School have been raising money for Toybox and being very creative at the same time! The children took part in a Posada hunt where they went searching around the school for the posada nativity figures which had been carefully hidden. They then listed where the figures were as fast as they could!

The children also took part in a creative writing competition where they had to write no more than 100 words about how they would welcome the holy family into their home. Here are a few of the winning entries:

Year 3 - Danny Clark
If I could welcome the holy family into my home I would introduce them to my pets. I have three dogs called Shadow, Storm and Dust - they would have to take care that Dust doesn't chew them because he is still a puppy. Next I would put them in my vivarium to meet my gecko called Guy - they would get very hot in there. To cool down I would take the outside to feed some grain to my chickens, Dorothy, Matilda, Mrs Moneyhenny and Queeny. Then I would take them for a walk with my dogs.

Year 4 - Harriet Williams
I would welcome the Holy Family into my home by giving them food and drink and a nice comfy bed with some fresh clothes, and organise a donkey to take them home to Bethlehem.

Year 3 - George Sweetman
If the holy family came to my house I would make them feel at home and give them the best, most comfortable beds, teach them how to speak English and give them food and water. If they had been travelling for a long time, I would ask them if they would like a hot, private bath or shower and put them to bed, and in the morning sing to them: "We have some Frosties, Frosties, Frosties; we have some Frosties, enough for you and me! And give them a lift to where they wanted to go.

Thank you to all who took part - HCJS managed to raise a massive £40 for the street children in Bolivia - and a big Toybox thank you to Dr Tomlinson who organised it all. With the support of wonderful people like those at Hereford Cathedral Junior School, Toybox can reach more children in more places out in Latin America - keep up the good work guys!

Natalia Fricker

Natalia Fricker is a Leeds University student and is this month's fabulous fundraiser! Natalia has been in action at her old school - St Mary's, Calne in Wiltshire, where she has been running a tuck shop to raise money for Toybox. Thanks to all of the keen sweet buyers at St Marys, Natalia has managed to raise £1000! What an amazing amount to raise, and what an amazing amount of good such a sum of money can do out in Latin America!

Natalia herself knows a fair bit about Latin America - she went out to Guatemala in June last year, and was able to spend a day with El Castillo out on the streets.

Natalia says: "Though I only spent one day there (with El Castillo), I would just like to say how much that day meant to me - I will remember it vividly for the rest of my life. I was delighted to get on so well with all the fabulous people who work there and it was so evident to me how much God is working in that place. It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to spend time with the children and I admire them so much for having such beautiful, joyous, angelic smiles despite the continual adversaries of their lives.

I learned a lot about the terrible situations so many street children face in Guatemala City and God has really put this place and those children on my heart; not a day goes by that I do not think of them in my prayers and wish I could be back there to show them the love they deserve. I pray that the great work done there will ever continue and flourish and that more and more children may be saved! "

Without wonderful people like Natalia, Toybox wouldn't be able to tell such great stories about the children we work with. Thank you to all the people who have fundraised for Toybox and for the children - we are very grateful for your love, support and prayers. A massive thank you to Natalia and to the guys at St Mary's School, Calne - keep up the great work!

Vikki Hodgson

Vikki wrote to us telling us all about the wonderful fundraising events she has been getting up to. We then looked at her address - she is all the way over in New Zealand! The plight of street children is being heard far and wide!

Vikki and her friends have been working hard - they call themselves "The Nutcases" and have been having a great time fundraising at Canvastown School.

Vikki herself has also done a sponsored "going without technology" for a whole week! So no computer, no internet, no television etc - brave girl Vikki!

The girls held a charity cakestall and baked many tasy treats to raise money for the street children, as well as many other fundraising activities. The money that the girls have raised so tirelessly will help reach children on the streets who are in need of hope - Vikki has helped give them some!

Altogether, Vikki and pals have raised $83.50 NZ Dollars, which comes out at about £33 - well done girls! Keep up the great work, and keep telling everyone about Toybox and the street children!

Alvaro Grana & Grange Farm Primary School and Finham Primary

Alvaro Grana, a Peruvian born teacher from Coventry has been teaming up with some enthusiasts from Grange Farm Primary School and Finham Primary in Styvechale, Coventry, to make music for the street children!

Alvaro and fellow musician Craig Cubbitt ran music workshops to demonstate how to play the panpipes and other Latin American percussion instruments. The event culminated in a wonderful performance by Alvaro, Craig and the children of traditional Latin American melodies which they had been rehearsing for a number of weeks.

People attending the workshops and the concert were encouraged to make a small donation towards the work of Toybox, and thanks to all the hard work and enthusiasm of all involved, the team managed to raise £800!!

Without the help of people like Grange Farm Primary School, Finham Primary, Craig and Alvaro, Toybox wouldn't be able to do all that it is doing in Latin America. Many more children have been reached and helped because of the love and compassion of Alvaro and the team. Keep up the good work!

Sarah and Emily Appleby

This months fundraisers come from Axbridge in Somerset where they have been waving the Toybox flag at a scarecrow festival in their home town.

The girls, Sarah (11) and Emily (8½) ran a cake and toy stall outside their house during the festival and so all the people who came to see the scarecrows also came to Sarah and Emily’s wonderful stall.

The girls even made their own very fetching scarecrow (called Eric) to attract customers! In that one Saturday morning, Emily and Sarah raised a massive £60 for the street children – well done girls!

Without wonderful people like the Applebys, Toybox wouldn’t be able to help the children of Latin America – Emily and Sarah have made it happen! Well done girls for your enthusiasm and love for the street children. On behalf of us here at Toybox, and those precious children we work with – Thank you.

David and Dorothy Williams

David and Dorothy have been Toybox supporters for more than 6 years and are a shining example of commitment and ingenuity.

For a long time now, David and Dorothy have been raising money for Toybox by selling their home made Marmalade! To date they have raised over £2000, and are still continuing to sell their wonderful marmalade, so watch this space for future updates! Thank you so much for your efforts David and Dorothy, and for bringing 'Overslade Marmalade' to many delighted people in Warwickshire!

There is not a month that goes by without either David or Dorothy contacting the Toybox office requesting some more labels for their maramalade jars, or requesting some information to give to someone they have just been talking to about Toybox.

 
David and Dorothy have also been out to Guatemala this year (as pictured above) and have had a chance to see their support in action. We understand they had a great time, despite a little bit of tummy trouble!

Without people like David and Dorothy, Toybox wouldn't be making leaps and bounds in reaching more children, so a very big thank you to the Williams' for all they have done and are continuing to do for the children in Latin America.

 

The Cycling Team - Duncan, Jim, Andy F, Sarah, Sally, Graham, Robert, Natalie, David, Paul and Andy S

our fundraisers of the month!

The team have raised a massive £16,397.08 for the street children and the total is still rising as more people show their support for these brilliant cyclists.

These eleven intrepid cyclists rode the momentous journey from Lands End in Cornwall, all the way to John O'Groats in Caithness! Their ages range from 37 to 61, they covered 1,034 miles in total, the shortest day was 40 miles and longest 96, they had 13 punctures and a couple of mechanical failures, they got lost twice and two of the riders were involved in a minor accident (they ran into each other!), they encountered rain, heavy rain and torrential rain, wind, more wind, sunshine and blue sky (but not at the same time), they climbed countless hills and descended just as many and in the end were still speaking to each other...

Thanks to everyone who sponsored the team, and a very big Toybox thank you to the eleven marvellous people who, for two whole weeks, were battling physical, mental and meteorological forces to help save the street children of Latin America.

 

POGOs from St Mark's Church Colney Heath

The St Mark's POGOs are:   George Anstey, Timothy Charlwood, Cain Joseph, Phoebe Morgans, Ruth Puddefoot, Dayna Wilson, Jasmine Day, Daniel Fox, Nathan Gibbins, Sam Newlove, Chloe Alvis, Stephanie Calder, Gabriele Day, Luke Gibbins, Robyn Harvey-Smith and Reece Wilson.

These special people had great fun in May when they held a Toybox morning and raised a brilliant £486.72 for the street children! Well done guys!

The team did a mixture of activities, including bobbing for apples, eating dry crackers, skipping, transfering peas with a straw and running lengths of the hall three legged. Each participant was sponsored for each event, and the number of completed actions was counted, and their sponsorship calculated. One brave sponser commented that he hadn't realised how many peas these guys could transfer in just one minute!

As part of the morning, the  team also watched the Toybox DVD to learn a bit more about the street children and listened to volunteer Tony Gibbs takling about his experiences in Latin America.

WIthout brilliant people like the POGOs, Toybox wouldn't be able to change the lives of street children in Latin America, so keep going team!

 

Val Stedham

Who would have thought that the retirement of the Toy Retailers Association’s (TRA) president Val Stedham would mean that children like Maria (10) could give up work too? In Latin America, an estimated 40 million children live or work on the streets, many with no actual home.  These children often have to work for a living instead of going to school and building a future for themselves

However, Val’s retirement is helping Toybox change the lives of Maria and thousands of other children like her. Val’s colleagues bought her a going-away gift of sponsorship for one street child for a year – a little boy named Paulo in Guatemala. But at the Annual Toy Awards Martin Grossman, a toy supplier from Scotland who was co-hosting the dinner, coxed the generous retailers and suppliers to make donations on Val’s behalf. It took less than 20 minutes to raise an amazing £10,500 for these children. That could be enough for Toybox to save 134 street children in Peru, Bolivia or Guatemala and give them back their childhood.

Left: Val and Martin displaying the success of their persuasive skills!

It took the toy retailers just twenty minutes to raise such a fantastic amount. Twenty minutes is a very significant period for a street child. Why? Because the first twenty minutes a runaway child fleeing an abusive home spends on the streets can determine whether that child lives or dies. Targeted by traffickers, gangs and prostitute rings, it is vital to offer them hope in those first minutes. That’s why Toybox supports Red Alert projects to meet the children early.

Val, known as Granny Val to her friends, has supported Toybox for a number of years. She said “It is wonderful that as I leave, my colleagues have honoured me by supporting Toybox, a cause that I love.”

Val first found out about Toybox through Gary Grant, CEO of the Entertainer Chain of Toyshops. Gary commented: “I am delighted that the very generous donations made at the TRA Awards and Dinner will be used by Toybox to support the amazing work that they are doing with forgotten children in Latin America.  Many of these children are homeless and do not even have the basic necessities in life, let alone toys.  I know that the Toybox team will use the money wisely to make a real difference to their lives.”

 

Christine Ayers

Christine has walked 33.5 miles to raise a whopping £650.81 for the street children! Well done Christine!

It all started back at the beginning of 2008 when Christine made a New Year's Resolution to do something for Toybox, and indeed she did!

From February 4th to 14th, over a period of 9 days, Christine walked the 33.5 miles beside the Grand Union Canal, along the tow paths and around the unexpected collapsed banks at Denham Deep, incorporating 50 locks and 70 bridges!

Christine was thrilled at the amount of people who supported her and helped her raise the £650.81. She says "God's guiding hand was on the whole project.  He even provided £7.81 found along the walk!"

Christine would like to thank all of the Toybox supporters who were uplifting her in prayer during those 2 weeks, without whom, she is positive that none of it would have been possible.

The path wasn't always easy, but nothing was going to stop Christine!