A charity based in Leicester will give toys to around 4000 underprivileged children this Christmas. Toys on Table have collected roughly 7000 toys so far and aims to collect 8000 in total.
On Wednesday Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby visited the charity at their base in Matrix House and helped wrap some of the presents.
The charity was originally set up in the 1980’s, and works in the Leicester and Leicestershire area, providing new toys and gifts at Christmas for children, regardless of faith, who might otherwise not receive anything. They only accept new gifts from donors, or funds to purchase new gifts.
Terry Watts, main organiser for Toys on the Table said “my guess is we are probably around the six to seven thousand mark on toys, we have just had a phenomenal delivery of toys, we now have the process of getting them out and sorting them, cataloging them, and getting them organised and wrapped ready for the children”.
“children are referred to us by social services, by schools, by churches, by organisations that work with the underprivileged children, and the one common theme running through the whole thing is that the children are the victims not the cause”.
“some of my volunteers are people who when they were children received toys, one lady nine years ago broke down in tears and said when I was a child the only toy I got was a doll provided by toys on the table and I’ve never forgotten”
For more information about the charity and find out how to nominate a child for a gift go to www.toysonthetable.org.uk
