His Toy Store 2024: Christmas Stories of Hope

Every year, His Toy Store creates a safe, welcoming space for families in need to experience comfort and joy. Here are three stories of hope to fill you with warmth this Christmas season!
 

A House on Beekman

For one single mom with limited resources, His Toy Store has been a huge blessing through the years. She began attending the Babies to Two program when her son (now a kindergartener) was a year and a half and experiencing developmental delays. Lonely, overwhelmed, and struggling, she found both a caring community and a family through A House on Beekman.

Having limited resources, the mom greatly appreciates being able to provide her son with age-appropriate, high-quality toys through His Toy Store. "We both enjoy coming together with the other families and making crafts, playing games, eating food, and just being together as a community." 

Avail

When one young woman first visited Avail, she was unexpectedly pregnant, without a high school degree and family support, and wondering how she would take care of her son. With support and resources, the young woman gave birth to her son.

One specific desire she shared was to make Christmas special for her son, even though she couldn’t afford much. His Toy Store was an answer to her prayer. She was able to pick out multiple free, quality, beautifully wrapped toys to give him a Christmas to remember.

She shared, “I’m so glad for this because I didn’t have money to be able to buy my son any toys this Christmas.”
 

Dream Center

At the Hamilton Heights location of His Toy Store, another single mom attended for the first time to choose a special Christmas gift for her three-year-old daughter. The event meant a lot to the mom, "especially at a time when many New Yorkers have difficulty paying bills due to increased living expenses." 

Priscilla Perumalla, Executive Director of Dream Center, also shared, “What we want to do is uplift the parent [and] make them the hero. They get to pick out the gift that best suits their child. It’s really important to us to make sure that this is a dignifying, uplifting family event.”

AM New York also highlighted His Toy Store and Dream Center, and we're thankful for the coverage.

What His Toy Store Is About

His Toy Store goes beyond toys to give joy, for parents to find hope and show love in different ways to kids. 

As we continue celebrating the hope and peace of this season, you can still double both your impact and hope for families in our city through a match opportunity. Help us reach $880,000 to unlock a full $250,000 match so we will reach our goal of $1.6 million before December 31! www.hfny.org/give

Thank you for bringing dignity and joy to New Yorkers in need. Your generosity truly blesses our city!