Donations

So yesterday I began the process of cleaning off the donations shelf. I had bins there from a month ago and after I looked through them, I remembered why I was avoiding them. I probably had 2-3 boxes of random pieces, a few games and Elmos.

I can't decide which of them wins on the obnoxious scale... but both make me giggle. The Elmo Loves You has these sweet little heart eyes that light up when he sings. The second one is called Check-Up Time Elmo and it kept asking me to check it's boo-boo and help him blow his nose. It freaked me out a little. I have seen infants with toys like these and they seem to share my hesitation with them. Even my dog (a very fierce Shih Tzu named Murphy) knows better. But older children (a little older than the toy's intention by the way) love them! This is why I have a small collection of talking/ laughing/ singing Elmos behind my desk. I can only take so much. There is already a Sesame Street toy that sings the character's songs that I put up with. I hear them in my sleep.

Anyway, back to the point. Donations. Last year around this time a woman came in with her 2 children and about 10 months pregnant with her 3rd. This was only her second time there and she brought her father with her. A couple weeks later she came in again bringing in 2 of the 2007 Hess Trucks, saying that her father was so impressed by the place he wanted the library to have these. I was so completely touched by the gesture. It showed me that there really are just good hearted people out there, especially around this time of year. A few weeks ago the woman came in again after not being here since last winter. She gave me a hug and re-introduced me to all three of her children including the newly walking infant Daniel. She brought her father in again with her and with him he carried the new fancy 2008 Hess Truck. I got a giant smile on my face and was again reminded of the simple nice deeds that we can do for others around us.

I love that people care enough to give back to the community and give me their children's old toys for the library. They are giving away part of their childhood and it will be recycled over and over again into someone else’s childhood memories. That’s fantastic. And then there are the other people who give me pieces of toys. I have a large bin on wheels for people to carry out items to their car. It is big enough to put a Cozy Coupe and a teeter totter in, so it’s pretty big. It was full of miscellaneous pieces and toys. I cut it down to about 20 pieces in a small bin. I just threw away a large box and am giving away 3 smaller boxes to boss lady for giveaways. It was so much work to go through them though and I would never say it isn’t worth it, because sometimes I find those odd little treasures. But honestly, and I say this with the best opinions at heart, it was crap. It was pieces of toys that my OCD brain could not handle. But you know what? Children that come in here, that my boss will give these to, will probably love them.

Now only if they would take the Elmos away.....