Norwood kids had their dreams come true on Sunday morning 30th November, when they participated in the annual Toy Sweep at Brent Cross Toys R Us, to celebrate the start of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, which begins later this month.
Between 9am-11am, Norwood’s Toy Sweep committee, which hosted the event and paid for all the toys and games grabbed during the event, was given exclusive access to the store. Dozens of children were joined by their families and carers and spent half an hour filling their trolley’s with as many toys and games from the shelves as they could. In all they managed to grab over £5,000 worth of gifts.
The Norwood Toy Sweep Committee hosted the event. Chair Roz Nineberg was joined by Toys R Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe as she cut the ribbon, sending young collectors racing through the aisles. Speaking after signalling the start of the Toy Sweep she said: “This is the eighth year that our committee has run this event in aid of Norwood, a charity which works with thousands of socially disadvantaged and disabled children and their families each year. We know that hundreds of children use Norwood’s specialist children’s services each week, and for many the annual Toy Sweep is the only chance they have to run freely around a toy store, choosing a gift of their own. Seeing the joy on the children’s faces as I sent them racing through the aisles is absolutely amazing.”
The goodies grabbed during Sunday’s Toy Sweep will be distributed across the twenty three residential homes that Norwood runs in and around London, as well as to the charity’s three Children & Family Centres in Hendon, Hackney and Redbridge and its social work teams.
Rosalind Astaire, fundraising co-ordinator at Norwood was full of praise for the Toy Sweep committee. She said: “This is a wonderful way for us, as Anglo-Jewry’s leading children and family services charity to celebrate Chanukah. The gifts grabbed today will give so many children so much pleasure not only during the festival, but over the next twelve months. Our thanks must go to our Toy Sweep committee that has so kindly donated the cost of these toys to Norwood. Their generosity will put a smile on the faces of so many hundreds of children who we work with during the year.”
