ELBA and BIG Alliance Toy Appeal 2024: Susan’s Legacy, 34 years!

Written by Naimah, Smera and Malaika, Challenge:ELBA

“Susan was an ELBA character and will be sorely missed… Her greatest legacy, apart from some highly inventive accounting techniques, was undoubtedly the Toy Appeal. What started as a small pile of presents in the corner of Susan’s office at Abbey Mills is now a 6,000 gifts extravaganza that makes a real difference at Xmas for some of the poorest in east London. Well done Susan.”

– Former CEO, Liam Kane, 30th December 2014

The Toy Appeal, an annual campaign to collect and provide toys to those less fortunate in East London and Islington, has always been presented as having an ambiguous date of origin. This year, we have deep-dived into the archives and have discovered the year it started was 1990, which makes this year the 34th year of the ELBA & BIG Alliance Toy Appeal, formerly known as Christmas Toy Appeal.

This toy story started with the late Susan Haythorpe,who through her work in East London and working closely with community organisations, noticed that many children did not receive a toy at Christmas – hence, the under- the desk collection started at ELBA. In 2014, around 6,000 toys were being donated. Looking forward to now, last year we had over 18,000 toys with 2020 having a record number of 22,000 toys donated. Susan’s passion, dedication and commitment, has carried on since its’ inception and ELBA are proud to continue her work and legacy as we go into our 34th year.

With the rising costs of living and inflation, the need for toys and number of community organisations being supported, increases every year – last year we supported 117 organisations and this will only increase in number. The toys are given to children who are most in need, some of which are fleeing domestic violence, living in emergency temporary accommodation, refugees, and children with disabilities and additional needs.

We want Susan’s passion and dedication to be emulated by our supporters this year and aim to fulfil the request for toys for all who apply to receive toys from the appeal. Here are some of the ways to get involved with the toy appeal:

Monetary donations
Ordering toys online
Volunteering your time to pick and pack gifts
Running an office collection
Drop-in donations to our Toy Appeal Grotto

As always, the generosity from everyone who supports the appeal is greatly appreciated and we are keen to continue this and help ease the pressure and stress from parents who are struggling financially and to make this festive period a special one.

In addition to the Toy Appeal, the Challenge team at ELBA will be launching Festive Team Challenge opportunities to support our community partners in planning their festive activities. This includes events at community centres; food banks; primary schools; adventure playgrounds and much more. Activities will include supporting festive celebrations, providing a helpful hand in the Toy Appeal Grotto and writing letters from Santa that will be provided with gifts.

Further details on how to donate and to register interest will be sent out in October.

For more information, please contact Smera Nadeem: smera.nadeem@elba-1.org.uk Naimah Miah: naimah.miah@elba-1.org.uk and Malaika Safder: malaika.safder@elba-1.org.uk

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