Just a Toy

 

Gary had been coming to talk to us about The Black Dog Ride - a ride from Perth to Port Hedland via Kalgoorlie for bikers to raise awareness and funds for mental health issues, including depression and anxiety; however his latest project is the one he wanted to talk to us about.  Over Christmas he realised that there were millions of young children caught up in the conflict in Syria and who now have no home, no schooling, no access to medical support and Gary wondered what he could do to help 'put a smile on their faces'.  He came up with the idea of being able to get some toys to them to help them at this tragic time of their lives.

 

Over the 5 years the conflict has been raging in Syria, over 8 million Syrian children have been caught up in it, and have been left homeless, without parents, or have had to flee to another country to get away from the troubles there.  Some 6 million are not engaged in schooling and over 2.5 million are refugees, with most of them living in tents, despite the fact that it is winter there at the moment.

 

Starting with the idea of wanting to put a smile on children's faces, Gary has now set up a Facebook page asking for donations.  He is building a group of supporters to help him get his message out to people via social media and radio/press.  The project is in its early days, but his aim is to fill a container as quickly as he can and get the items to the people in need.  With only about 3 weeks into the project he has over 500 toys and hopes for many more.  He has approached some local business organisations in the hope of obtaining soccer balls, play equipment, toys to add to the donations from the general community. 

 

If you are interested in helping out Gary can be reached on 0429 904 764 or via his email account:  gary@justatoy.com.au

 

Thank you Gary for your interesting talk this morning.  We wish you all the best and look forward to hearing when that first container gets sent.