Together we have achieved
13,745
Smiles
Empowerment
Refugee and Asylum Seeker Toy Drive
The Refugee & Asylum Seeker Toy Drive exists to bring joy and happiness to vulnerable children and their families; many of whom have experienced countless obstacles and challenges in their journey to Australia.
Many of these children have not received a new toy in years so the RASTD strives to provide toys to as many children as possible. The Refugee & Asylum Seeker Toy Drive is a grass-roots organisation, run completely by volunteers, who ensure that 100% of donations go directly to helping the children.
Partnership At A Glance
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13,745 children gifted toys for Christmas 2019
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6931 Moose toys donated to 2019 Toy Drive
Reaching every refugee and asylum seeker child in Australia!
The RASTD delivers toys, books, and gifts out to every single one of the over 10,000 refugee and asylum seeker children currently in Australia.
The RASTD also hosts annual events; together with Moose Toys, they give the children a day of food, fun, entertainment, and of course, a toy or two! It is truly a wonderful day full of joy and smiles.
Never underestimate the power of one child getting one toy.
What separates the RASTD from other similar charities is their rare ability to reach every refugee and asylum seeker child in Australia. Their ability to gift toys is an outreach exercise. For families that otherwise face countless barriers in both asking for and receiving such help, their work is considered a duty and a privilege. The RASTD recognises that the struggle for these families to establish themselves in a new country often leaves these children without toys to play with. Play is vital to their settling in and in light of their backgrounds, their healing.
The importance of play in children's lives!
The RASTD supports the remarkable power of play and recognises how essential it is to children's lives and development, and this is what bonds the team and Moose Toys. Having a like-minded partner, who shares our vision to make kids superhappy, is a beautiful thing.
Not only is Moose the biggest contributor of toys to the RASTD, but each year, a team of our wonderful volunteers assist with the running of the RASTD's huge toy drive event, where we gift toys to the children directly.
Born from a single idea and one kind human who decided to take action!
Like most great things, the Refugee and Asylum Seeker Toy Drive was born from a single idea, from one kind human who decided to take action. The RASTD was founded by Christopher Stenton, who had worked directly supporting refugees and asylum seekers, both in and out of immigration detention, for many years. Through his work, he identified that many refugee and asylum seeker children went without toys, and so he set about trying to change this.
These Moosies are getting into the spirit of Christmas at the 2019 Toy Drive annual event.
This wonderful Moosie even dressed up as an Elf to help give out toys.
