Janiya DuBose of Boston, who was 2 when she opened her Metro Magic gift last year, was thrilled with her choice. Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro
If you haven’t already purchased a gift for Tony’s Metro Magic toy drive, there are hundreds of reasons at Heading Home why you should.
Based in Charlestown, Heading Home provides emergency, transitional and permanent housing, and support services to hundreds of low-income homeless and formerly homeless families and individuals throughout Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Malden, Everett and Quincy.
According to Heading Home, a typical homeless family consists of a single mother in her 20s with one to three children, and the majority of the organization’s family program participants are young single mothers.
It’s these families who need your help this holiday season.
Heading Home, along with Toys for Tots, has partnered with Metro again this year to help homeless children who will not have a gift to open over the holidays.
Tony’s Metro Magic, named after beloved Editor-in-Chief Tony Metcalf who passed away this year, allows readers to select a gift from our online wish list and have it directly shipped to Metro and then distributed to children at Heading Home or Toys for Tots.
Tom Lorello, executive director of Heading Home, said the generosity of Metro’s readers continues to bring countless smiles to the struggling families they serve.
“The Metro Magic toy drive grants wishes and provides all family members with a real boost during an already tough time – children receive their favorite toys and parents receive necessities like mittens and housewares,” Lorello said. “Words cannot describe the joy on our clients’ faces as they receive their gifts.”
The joy that Heading Home’s clients feel is something that every adult can relate to — we, too, experienced it when we received that shiny new bike or dainty doll house as a child.
Now it’s your turn to deliver that joy. We are regularly updating our wish list so give to a needy local child today.
How to take part
Clickingherewill take you to a wish list we have set up via a secure link onToys ‘R’ Us.com.
Once there, you can see all the toys we’ve already requested for kids, with more are being added daily. Simply select the toys you want and purchase them. That’s it!
Selecting only the toys on our wish list ensures that all the gifts will be shipped to our offices and then picked up by the Marines.
What to give?
Metro is collecting new, unwrapped gifts, not clothes. Things like action figures, dolls, board games, and sports toys like a football are always good. And don’t forget about older children, ages 11 and up. An older child would love to receive an MP3 player, a make-up kit or a poster from their favorite “Twilight” movie this year. And you don’t have to give much. Spending $10 or $20 on a toy or two for a needy child can make a big difference.
If you donate, e-mail us at charity@metro.us letting us know what you gave and we’ll shout out a “thank-you” in the paper!
