Toy drives are commonplace during the holidays, with those small gifts being extra meaningful for children who often go without during the rest of the rest. In New York City, philanthropist and former tech business owner Carol Suchman has always been a generous donor. Usually giving hundreds of toys to give as birthday gifts to foster kids in Brooklyn, Shuman says children have always been her focus.
But this year Suchman did something so heartwarming spectacular that even a city official says he's never seen anything like it.
Suchman bought an entire toy store - full of thousands of toys, stuffed animals and school supplies - and donated it to New York's Department of Homeless Services.
That's a whole lot of Beanie Boos and colouring books - and a whole lot of happy children.
Located in the West Village, Hudson Party Store had gone out of business. Though the windows were papered over and the lights turned off, Suchman's brilliant idea of buying the all the inventory came to her as she walked by the shuttered store, so she contacted the owner.
"When I saw this toy store, I just realized I could do it on a grander scale. We talked and negotiated and bought the entire toy store," Suchman said.
Suchman helped sort and bag the toys, then donated every single one to the Department of Homeless Services.
"I've been doing this for many years and we have many generous sponsors — people do toy drives and do a lot of giving — but I have to say, that this is the first time anybody ever bought out an entire store and donated to the children of shelters," said DHS director of special events Antonio Rodriquez.
Seeing Suchman hands-on in the store and helping out truly shows she's the real deal (rather than cutting a cheque and having everyone else do the work while she gets the glory).
"Children is always my focus. A lot of foster kids get a lot of used things and I realized a lot of them never had a birthday gift that they actually wanted," said Suchman.
At a time of year when most kids are inadvertently focused on what they want for Christmas, this is a great story to share as a gentle reminder that there are kids in the world who don't even have their own bed to sleep in, never mind a tree to tuck a present under. It's truly inspirational. Thank you so much, Carol.
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