Frequent Asked Question

 

 How Can I Help?

One Toy at a Time is administered by Rina Fernandez and Leland Jared LeBaron who for the past 20 years have paid the great majority of the expenses required to deliver toys to the children in extreme poverty from their own pockets - and of course they work 100% without a salary.  To be able to afford and maintain One Toy at a Time, they live very modestly in an RV trailer and maintain multiple jobs.  Any support you can provide to help them reducing the costs while increasing the amount of toys they can deliver to children will be welcomed! 

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Toy donations (used/new) – we always need beautiful toys.  Consider collecting your family’s beautiful used toys or start a small toy drive.   You can contact us for support and guidance – the available tools at our disposal for the drive are the documentary, tax write-offs, our involvement, Instagram, Facebook, etc.   

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Cost of the toy supply chain - cash is always needed to transport toys from the donor to the children receiving the them. The transportation costs add up starting when Rina Fernandez picks up your toys and continues until those toys reach a children in a country far away. Each segment of the toy’s movement has a cost and a complexity that must be addressed and paid.  Some of the steps and payments required are local transportation, storage, cleaning, transportation to the airport, transportation internationally, processing through local country customs, transportation from airport to the hotel, and the transportation from the hotel to locate the children receiving the toys. Any small donation is very much appreciated and will make a difference - if you are looking to get involved consider a fundraiser as on option.  We are not experienced in fundraising.  Ideas/tools that could be useful for your effort include the following:  

1. Airlines that travels internationally - donate flights

2. Car rental companies – donate car rental costs

3. Customs agents in the country we are traveling i.e. Peru, Mexico, etc. are nightmares and costly clear customs. Custom experts may donate their help.

4. GoFundMe 

5. Hotel chain - donate rooms - we use Airbnb to cut cost and pay around $15 to $40.          

You can support our Social Media effort - donate your time to spread the word about what we do to your friends and family.   

• Instagram - If you love our Instagram pictures/videos then please repost, write a beautiful comment, like, spread it - just follow IG rules.  The more engagement we receive on recent posts, more Instagram spreads our post so others will find them and follow.     

• Facebook – same comment as for Instagram, please engage and comment if you like what you see.

• YouTube - documentary can be found here as well as videos we are uploading.

• LinkedIn – will be creating the account soon. 

• This website – it is really basic and need improvements and can use help making it beautiful and user friendly.

• Twitter – have about 50 followers and need help from someone who can help manage and grow it.               

 

Supplies/items - nice to have list but not essential

• Faster laptop to edit videos – our Dell laptop is 5 years old

• A nice small reliable video recorder that records beautiful images - using our camara

• Tablet to manage social media - using our cell phones 

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Can I donate used toys to your organization?

Yes, please that will be very helpful - we have a big need for toys, technology such as in video games or tablets, etc.  We look for toys in working conditions and worth transporting – toys for boys are the most difficult for us to find and expensive to buy because boys destroyed their toys before the toys are sent to a second hand stores for us to buy.  The more toys donated, the less we have to drain our small budget.  You donated toys will have an impact on our operation and reach children in need.

 

Can I donate clothes to your organization?

Yes.  A Naked children can’t go to school or interact with other children because they are laughed at and/or bullied – by providing clothes and shoes they start to blossom.  For this reason, we take toys and clothes to children.

 

Why distribute toys to other countries if children here in America need toys too?

By giving toys to children living in extreme poverty a very positive transformation is immediately seen – it’s like winning the lottery.  A toy will transform a child’s confidence, communication skills, negotiation skills, etc.  In wealthier countries like the USA, too often the opposite challenge is common – children have too many toys making it beneficial to limit toys such as video games, phones, tablets, etc. and take them outside to play or traveling may be more useful - giving out more used toys to them brings no benefits.

 

Have you thought of helping with something other than toys? Like food or healthcare or donating directly to the countries you visit?

Yes, we consider ways to have a bigger impact but we believe the benefits of delivering toys to impoverished children can’t be trumped.  Toys teach a child how to fish vs. giving them a fish.  By playing with toys children prepare themselves to become an engineers, programmers, musicians, doctors, etc.  It’s uncommon to become a computer programmers if you didn’t play with computers, a musician if you didn’t own/play a musical instrument, etc. Once the child is a professional he can provide his own food, healthcare and pay taxes to his Government.

 

Why don’t you help build schools if you want to help children?

We believe that providing the correct toys to a child may be as important as sending them to school.  Children living in extreme poverty spend 4 or 12 years going to school and then find themselves without a job or locked in a job that perpetuates poverty.  By playing with toys, especially technology like computers and video games, they will be prepare themselves to obtain a job as an entrepreneur, mechanic, cashier, etc. and be capable of competing for jobs in today’s modern economy.  

 

What is something important you have learned?   

The abundance of toys is a significant advantage for modern families - being aware of the phenomenon that an abundance of toys creates will give one an edge – unbeknownst, people begin to accept their children are naturals and born with skills which are gained from playing with toys – taken for granted are the numerous hours children in wealthier countries play with tablets, game console, dolls, blocks - preparing them for employment in a modern economy.  Consequently, making an informed decisions is imperative when toys are provide/withdrawn from children. And for the families who can't affort toys, be all you can be, encounter a child in need and provide a toy that can transform a life!     

 

What is the best toy to give out to children?   

 - The toy necessary to transform the lives of millions of children don’t exist on the market.  Children need a toy that triggers critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, analysis, interpretation - a multi-player option to make playing games socially easy and attractive; facilitates all areas of basic education; small and tough enough to be carried by working children in remote areas and be solar charging.