The Barbie Project for Foster Kids
Donation protected
The Barbie Girls Project is something that began as a result of what happened when I was 8 years old. At the time, I was visiting my family in India, and became acquainted with a couple of girls who became my friends. One was special needs, the other under-privileged. Both of their reactions to being gifted my Barbies forever changed my life so that years later when I had a daughter of my own who turned 8, I felt it was time to have her share in the experience.
That time came in 2011, when we took donated 10 "Barbie bags" to under-priviledged girls in my daughter's school that Christmas. The bags included a gently-used doll, a change of clothing, and other accessories. Why gently-used? Because they came from our own collection, as a means of giving away something of ours, just as I once did, rather than buying something brand new. And since we were working with a low budget, I also hand-knitted many of the clothing items for the dolls. We remained anonymous, but my daughter unexpectedly got to witness one of the girls receiving and opening her gift bag on the last day of school before the holidays, and as a result, she came home talking about how much she enjoyed playing "Santa." That's when I knew we had hit home on the project!
Our next mission was to find more needy girls in our area. So in 2012, I became aware of Indy Fire and Rescue's need for toys for children who lost their homes to fires and other catastrophic events. It just so happened that there had been a home explosion that displaced several families in the nearby city of Greenwood, so I homed in on wanting to provide Barbie bags to any of those families, but also any others who were suddenly without any toys of their own. Enlisting the help of my daughter's Girl Scouts troop, we collected a combination of 14 gently-used AND new dolls, and everyone had fun participating.
In 2013, I decided that it was time to experiment with a larger-scale type of project. The Peyton Manning Children's Hospital is always looking for gifts for both girls and boys, and I wanted us to help them in the same Barbie spirit of giving as we'd done thus far. By opening up our gift-giving to include Mattel products as a whole, not just Barbie dolls, we were able to collect over 20 presents for both genders of children who faced short-term and long-term stays at the hospital during the Christmas season.
Sadly, in 2014, we were unable to finalize a dream challenge I had to partner with an overseas orphanage, so in the meantime, I planned out where else we could be of need. Not that we didn't want to try the hospital again, but I felt like it would be nice to have a new place to turn to each year, if at all possible. As it turns out, so many charitable organizations get more than they can store so that they don't always need people to donate! Who knew?! But I kept digging and asking around until finally this year I was led to email Child Advocates Inc. who jumped at the chance to use The Barbie Girls Project's help.
Accordingly, we are on board to help provide one toy per child to as many as we can for Christmas 2015. There are over 6,000 children, ages 0-18. Obviously this is something that will take the generosity of many more people than we already have! By your donations, we can help shop for new-in-box, Mattel brand toys for all those children who put any sort of Mattel toy down on their wish list. If we can start with just $100 for our goal, that will easily provide enough for roughly 10 children. The deadline for accepting donations will be December 2nd so that we can buy the items and have them ready for the pick-up/drop-off date of December 5th. Items will then be matched and given to each child by their case workers starting December 11th until all have been gifted by December 25th.
Thanks in advance for your support on this endeavor and please check back often for updates on our progress and additional calls to action!
That time came in 2011, when we took donated 10 "Barbie bags" to under-priviledged girls in my daughter's school that Christmas. The bags included a gently-used doll, a change of clothing, and other accessories. Why gently-used? Because they came from our own collection, as a means of giving away something of ours, just as I once did, rather than buying something brand new. And since we were working with a low budget, I also hand-knitted many of the clothing items for the dolls. We remained anonymous, but my daughter unexpectedly got to witness one of the girls receiving and opening her gift bag on the last day of school before the holidays, and as a result, she came home talking about how much she enjoyed playing "Santa." That's when I knew we had hit home on the project!
Our next mission was to find more needy girls in our area. So in 2012, I became aware of Indy Fire and Rescue's need for toys for children who lost their homes to fires and other catastrophic events. It just so happened that there had been a home explosion that displaced several families in the nearby city of Greenwood, so I homed in on wanting to provide Barbie bags to any of those families, but also any others who were suddenly without any toys of their own. Enlisting the help of my daughter's Girl Scouts troop, we collected a combination of 14 gently-used AND new dolls, and everyone had fun participating.
In 2013, I decided that it was time to experiment with a larger-scale type of project. The Peyton Manning Children's Hospital is always looking for gifts for both girls and boys, and I wanted us to help them in the same Barbie spirit of giving as we'd done thus far. By opening up our gift-giving to include Mattel products as a whole, not just Barbie dolls, we were able to collect over 20 presents for both genders of children who faced short-term and long-term stays at the hospital during the Christmas season.
Sadly, in 2014, we were unable to finalize a dream challenge I had to partner with an overseas orphanage, so in the meantime, I planned out where else we could be of need. Not that we didn't want to try the hospital again, but I felt like it would be nice to have a new place to turn to each year, if at all possible. As it turns out, so many charitable organizations get more than they can store so that they don't always need people to donate! Who knew?! But I kept digging and asking around until finally this year I was led to email Child Advocates Inc. who jumped at the chance to use The Barbie Girls Project's help.
Accordingly, we are on board to help provide one toy per child to as many as we can for Christmas 2015. There are over 6,000 children, ages 0-18. Obviously this is something that will take the generosity of many more people than we already have! By your donations, we can help shop for new-in-box, Mattel brand toys for all those children who put any sort of Mattel toy down on their wish list. If we can start with just $100 for our goal, that will easily provide enough for roughly 10 children. The deadline for accepting donations will be December 2nd so that we can buy the items and have them ready for the pick-up/drop-off date of December 5th. Items will then be matched and given to each child by their case workers starting December 11th until all have been gifted by December 25th.
Thanks in advance for your support on this endeavor and please check back often for updates on our progress and additional calls to action!
Organizer
Natasha Polak
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
