Rajasthan opens toy banks for poor children

Bringing cheers to underprivileged kids, two districts in Rajasthan have taken a unique initiative to open toy bank for them. The toy bank will make toys available to anganwadis, primary schools and kids living in children’s wards.

The toy bank, a brainchild of Ajmer district collector, Gaurav Goyal, through which the district administration will collect toys from donors and distribute them among students in the state anganwadis, primary schools and those who cannot afford them.

Mr Goyal has also developed a mobile van to facilitate collection of toys. The donors will receive a letter of appreciation by the administration. So far 8,000 toys have been collected across the district. In the coming month, a toy collection drive aims to collect nearly 50,000 toys for the bank.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who launched both the “toy bank” and the “app”, was among the first one to gift toys. She sent 101 educational toys which were distributed by Mr Goyal to the kids present. Some kids also interacted with the CM through video conferencing. “Bring a smile on their faces,” she said.

Ms Raje said such toy banks should be opened in all districts of Rajasthan and congratulated the Ajmer collector for his initiative. She has also suggested setting up a clothes bank and mobile book banks in the state where needy people can get quality clothes and those interested in reading can read books free.

Meanwhile, the initiative has got good response in the city motivating banks, educational institutions and NGOs to come forward in the toy collection drive. Already, UCO Bank has set up 50 toy collection centres in its branches; soon HDFC, Sofia and Mayo College will also open toy collection centres in their premises. Lions Club, Mahavir International and Brahma Kumari organisation have gifted toys to enrich the toy bank while Hindustan Zinc has made available two mobile vans to collect toys.

Mr Goyal who was congratulated by the CM for his initiative said that the programme was conceptualised to ensure that unused toys are made available to those who cannot afford them. He added that a toy collection campaign would be organised for the next month during which donors can donate toys at over 50 centres across the state, including private banks and education institutes.