BISB House Christmas Toy Drive 2024

The House team of BISB would like to notify you about a wonderful opportunity to contribute to a Holiday Present Drive, which gives used toys, books in mint or great condition and sweets to Hungarian Romani children between the ages of 0 and 12 who come from very low-income households, and otherwise wouldn’t receive presents for Christmas.

What do we do, and why should you contribute?

Same as last year, this is a House event organised by the House Team, in collaboration with Új Start Alapítvány (New Start Foundation), who have been running this initiative with great success for many years. They have scanned and assessed the exact wishes of children living in extreme poverty through their local network of volunteers and thus can tailor-gift through our joint effort. Last year we managed to collect over a 1000 presents, lets beat our record and donate even more this time!

The “aim of the game” is for each House to contribute as many presents as possible, the first place will be rewarded with 40 house points, the second 30, the third 20 and the last will receive 10 points!

How can you help?

The collection will be held from November 26th until December 5th, and the presents should be placed into your child’s House’s collection box that they’ll be able to find in the Atrium. The Foundation will wrap all received presents and arrange for delivery by Christmas.

What are we collecting?

We’re looking for items that are in mint or great condition (not lacking any pieces, fully intact and functioning properly). The Foundation is specifically looking for toys for small children, accessories, and items such as toy cars and teddy bears. We kindly ask that if a toy requires batteries, an extra set be given alongside the toy and that any item with a significant amount of text on it be written in Hungarian.

Furthermore, if you are providing us with Lego pieces that have accumulated from several different boxes, we kindly ask that you bring a sufficient amount of A4-size cellophane bags with them. We would like to kindly discourage you from providing us with board games, as the families will not be able to use them to their full potential.

Új Start also emphasised that colourful storybooks in Hungarian are greatly appreciated, as frequently, these are the first books in the family’s household. All sticker books, colouring books and alike should resemble brand new quality (if one or two stickers have been used, that is excusable. However, we won’t be able to accept partially used items). Thank you for your understanding.

Let’s make Christmas really sweet this year!

Lastly, we are also looking for fully wrapped and packed chocolates and sweets (no home baking this time).

Thank you for your kind support; let’s bring smiles to as many children in need as possible!

Good luck to all Houses!

Ms. Walsh, House Leader