There are lots of volunteer opportunities going on at work especially this time of the year and I love we get so many options to help the community. (I volunteered for a kid' sports day event earlier this year and that was an eye opener :) I was exhausted after that event.)
Every Christmas our bank partners with this children's charity and sponsors many toys to children from under privileged homes, to give them a toy as a present which they would not otherwise receive. This year the team decided to introduce Toy Dash, which is to go out and buy as many toys as possible, for all age groups. Think: Supermarket Dash. Ah, shopping. This one I can do quite easily, I thought this task was designed for me! Also, collectively, our team at work (about 12 of us) signed up with our assistant's help to wrap some of these presents so they can be given away, all wrapped up beautifully.
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| Can I bring Bashful bunny home? |
Another team member heard I was signing up and decided to join me. When we turned up for the briefing that morning in the meeting room, we saw about 20 other ladies who volunteered. Where are the guys?! lol So first things first, we were introduced formally to the charity, and the rules of the task. We were to be split into 3 groups, one to John Lewis at Oxford Street, another two to John Lewis at Stratford Westfield. The rule was to spend ALL THE MONEY. Easy enough ;) When I heard of Oxford Street, I immediately thought of the throngs of tourists, and therefore volunteered to go to the one at Stratford. It should be relatively quiet that time of the day. We were also told the amount we all had to spend that morning - GBP 4,460. Gasp. Say that again? Yes that's right. And my team was assigned GBP1,460 to spend. With GBP10-12 per present, we figured we had to get about 140 toys in about two hours. Hurry let's go girls!
We took the train there and true enough, at 945am, there was barely anyone in the children's department. There was a lady at the counter waiting for us to arrive and give a short briefing. I mean, 12 ladies shopping, spending so much money can turn out to be quite crazy! I volunteered to get toys for kids between 3 to 5 years. Aww I was so excited. More excited than the recipients probably.
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| First two boxes of toys were picked by me. Yes the one with two Elsa's from Frozen. |
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| And threw in some Play-Doh too |
There weren't too many rules, however we were told not to get toys which are battery operated, because we can't assume these families can afford to buy batteries. We were also asked not to get toys which require adult supervision; not a must, but would be nice if the child can play on his/her own without having the need to be explained to. We were urged to get unisex toys, and to maximise the GBP10 - 12 per present, instead of getting toys of GBP6 and GBP6 each, because the sorting team will then need to pair up presents. We were given envelopes of GBP200 vouchers each and were told in detail how to account for each envelope accurately because clearly, this would be audited and we don't want to lose any pennies!
With that, and a basket in tow, off we went!
There was a really good selection of toys, and it wasn't difficult to get toys in the specified price range. After about an hour, I filled up two big boxes, such as the ones you see in the pic below.
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| Too warm! We threw our winter jackets in the box and here I was, stacking up all the presents for the cashier to scan. I spent GBP 200.13 - so we had to take 0.13 from another envelope and my leader had to account all these properly. |
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| Toys galore |
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That's our team leader, in charge of the money.
We were tasked to protect her on the way to the shopping centre haha |
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| My team members |
All in all, a very fun and meaningful morning. I thought I put my shopping skills to good use lol
John Lewis was really kind to issue us food vouchers after that - for a coffee and cake each in their cafe, to thank us for our hard work. Hard work? Nah..
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| Love all these huge sized plushies |
On a festive note, our door wreath is up this weekend!
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