On October 12, plenty of children open a brand-new gift at home. Just as many go through the date with nothing in their hands. The Toy Drive exists precisely to close that gap: the Club gathers toys that are sitting idle at home, restores whatever can be restored, buys a few new ones, and delivers it all in an organized party for children who would hardly get a gift that day.
The initiative goes far beyond leaving a bag at the door. It is a full operation that the Pathfinders run almost from start to finish: collection, sorting, cleaning, repair, safety, registration of who will be served, and the party itself, with games, food and a Bible story. It takes work, and that is exactly why it teaches so much.
If you lead a Unit or direct a Club, this guide shows how to plan the initiative without improvising, from the first announcement at the service to the last child walking out smiling with a toy tucked under their arm.
Why toys, and why this date
Children's Day in Brazil falls on October 12. The date was made official by decree back in 1924, under President Artur Bernardes, and gained traction from the 1960s onward, when toy manufacturers began using it for large commercial campaigns. In the mind of the Brazilian child, this date and toys have gone hand in hand for decades.
This is where the Club steps in with a gesture that speaks the language of childhood. Solidarity can be explained with beautiful words, but what a five-year-old really understands is a toy car in their hand. A toy communicates something direct: someone thought of me, someone wanted to see me happy today.
The Toy Drive has its own focus within the Club's calendar of initiatives. The coat drive brings warmth in winter, the food collection eases hunger, the solidarity Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus. Here the goal is the joy of play, the right of a child to be a child even when the family cannot afford a gift.
Keeping that clarity helps when you ask for donations. When you announce the initiative at church or in the parents' group, make it explicit that it is about toys, for Children's Day, for specific boys and girls the Club is going to visit. A concrete request yields a concrete donation.
The collection: new, used and how to ask
Start the campaign about four weeks before October 12. Any less than that and you run out of time to sort and repair. Any more and people forget. A window of three to four weeks is usually the sweet spot.
Work on two fronts at the same time. The first is used toys in good condition: the ones the Pathfinders themselves, church members and neighbors have sitting idle at home. The second is new toys, bought with a Unit fundraiser, part of the Club's budget, or by sponsors who prefer to give money rather than dig through their homes. New ones are especially useful for babies and for gifting the shyer children, who feel awkward with a visibly used toy.
Set up visible collection points: a large, clearly labeled box at the church entrance, another in the Club room, and arrange a time to receive larger donations. When possible, also accept supplies for the party, such as popcorn, packaged treats and decoration items.
Leave short instructions on the collection poster. Ask for toys that are clean, whole and with all their parts. This greatly reduces the volume of broken items that come in and saves work during sorting. One line does the job: "Donate the toy you would gladly give to your own nephew."
Sorting, cleaning and refurbishing
Set aside at least one Saturday afternoon or two weeknight meetings for this stage. It is the invisible heart of the campaign, and where the teens learn that serving also means rolling up your sleeves.
Set up a simple assembly line. Separate tables by function: receiving, cleaning, repair and packaging. Each Pathfinder takes a station and the toy moves from one table to the next. It goes faster and no one gets lost.
For cleaning, washable plastics go into water with mild soap and dry thoroughly before being stored. Cloth toys, when they can take it, go through the machine or a hand wash and dry completely so they don't mildew. You clean electronic parts with a lightly damp cloth, never submerged, and swap old batteries for new ones. Very grimy stuffed animals that can't be salvaged come off the list without a second thought.
For refurbishing, you salvage whatever can be salvaged: gluing a peeling sticker, tightening a screw, replacing a wheel, completing a puzzle that lost a few pieces. Anything cracked, with a sharp edge, an exposed wire or a spring showing goes in the trash. A shabby toy in the hand of a needy child sends the wrong message, that they deserved only the leftovers. The rule is simple: hand over something good or don't hand it over at all.
Read alsoCommunity soup kitchen: how the Club prepares and distributes mealsSafety: the part you can't skip
There is no room to relax here. A toy handed over with a loose part can turn into a choking incident for a small child. Treat safety as the number one rule of the campaign, above haste and volume.
The golden rule for children under 3 is clear: no small parts that can fit whole into the mouth. This includes little balls, poorly sewn plastic eyes on stuffed animals, tiny building pieces and any part that comes off with a tug. In Brazil, every new toy must carry the Inmetro certification seal, which attests to safety testing, including the risk of small parts for children under three. When buying the new ones, check for this seal on the packaging and respect the printed age range.
Do the safety sorting by separating by age. A simple table helps the team avoid mistakes at handover time:
| Age group | OK | Extra care |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 years | Large, soft toys with no detachable parts | No small parts, long cords, magnets, accessible batteries or poorly sewn eyes |
| 3 to 6 years | Medium building sets, dolls, toy cars, non-toxic paints | Check tips, sharp corners and parts that come off easily |
| 7 years and up | Games, puzzles, balls, building kits | Verify it is complete with no cracked or rusted parts |
When in doubt about a small part, use the old toilet paper roll test: if the item passes all the way through the tube, it is too small for a child under 3. Set those toys aside for the older groups and move on with peace of mind.
Setting up the party: games, food and a story
With the toys ready and sorted, the party is the harvest of it all. It usually runs two to three hours and calls for a clear layout of stations, each with Pathfinders in charge and at least one adult nearby.
Spread the attractions around the space so the children can circulate. Games with sing-alongs and light contests keep the kids' energy in check. The popcorn and cotton candy turn into a happy line, so organize with tickets or by groups to avoid a shoving match. Face painting delights the little ones, and here a bit of care is due: use paint made for skin, test it beforehand and ask the guardians about allergies.
Telling a Bible story gives the gathering its soul. Choose something visual and short, like Jesus welcoming the children, and use a puppet, a felt apron or a skit by the Pathfinders themselves. The goal is simple: every child leaves knowing they are loved by God and by the people who came to them.
Handing over the toy closes the party and deserves care. Call each child by name, place it in their hand, look them in the eye. If you registered the ages beforehand, you can give the right gift for each group, avoiding the toy car for the girl who wanted a doll or the thin building piece for the baby. It is the detail that turns a donation into care.
Logistics, volunteers and partnering with social services
A good social initiative lives or dies on behind-the-scenes organization. Before any party, decide where it will happen and for whom. A daycare center, a shelter, the CRAS, a neighborhood association or a needy community recommended by someone you trust are the most common destinations.
Avoid choosing the location on your own and never show up by surprise. Reach out to your neighborhood CRAS (Social Services Reference Center) or the municipal social services department. They know the families, know how many children to expect, advise on guardian authorization and prevent the Club from serving the wrong audience or repeating what another organization has already done. This bridge protects the children and lends the initiative credibility.
Register the children being served in advance, always through the partner institution. Note the name, age and any relevant observation, such as a food restriction for the cotton candy. This registry defines how many toys to prepare, from which age groups, and ensures no one is left out and no pile of gifts is left over for an age that didn't show up.
Set up the volunteer schedule in writing, with name, role and time. Assign the roles: who receives the children, who handles the popcorn, who runs the games, who stays at toy handover, who takes photos with authorization. Also arrange for a basic first-aid kit on site and your local emergency number written down (in Brazil, SAMU 192), because with children running around, a scrape or a bout of dizziness can always happen. This counts as a precaution, and does not replace professional care in an emergency.
The meaning behind the toys
All this rush carries a purpose that goes beyond an afternoon party. When Jesus was surrounded by children and the disciples tried to keep them away, his answer was direct: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:14, NIV). The Club that welcomes the poor child with a toy in hand is doing, in small measure, exactly what the Master asked.
The Bible ties faith and practical care into a single knot. James puts it this way: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27, NIV). The child without resources, often in a shelter, is the exact picture of that calling. Serving that child is worship with hands stained by face paint.
There is also a seed being planted in the Pathfinders themselves. "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it" (Proverbs 22:6, NIV). The teen who spent Saturday washing toys, rehearsing the story and handing over a gift with a smile is learning, in practice, what a life devoted to others is. That lesson stays.
If community service drives your Club, it is worth checking out the community service page as well, which helps turn one-off initiatives like this into a habit all year round. The Toy Drive is a good start. The best of it is what remains afterward: children who felt remembered and Pathfinders who discovered the joy of giving.