Peninsula Seniors Toy Recyclers are permanently relocating from Ingleside to The Hub at Kimbriki, taking with over 50 years of saving toys from landfill, repairing those toys and giving them another chance to make children across the globe smile, including in Australia.
“This is my happy place,” Terrence Cook, President of the group, said as he gave Manly Observer a tour of the volunteer-run charity’s new home.
Terry the Toy Man, as he’s affectionately known, volunteered his skills as a builder back in 2002 when the group was setting up in Ingleside. The move to The Hub has been on the cards for a few years due to outgrowing the large shed structure at Ingleside and, according to Terry, the site will soon be developed into sporting grounds for St Augustine school.
“In Ingleside, it got a little bit chaotic, whereas here, we’re trying to have everything organised with laminated signs and showcased, so it’s easier for our volunteers to sort out the donated toys, and also for the charities and organisations who come collect our toys, they can see what’s on display,” he said.
The 40-volunteer strong group has been working out of The Hub, which is an initiative from Kimbriki and houses other recycle and reuse not-for-profit organisations, one day a week for the last couple of years. As of February, it will call it home and operate four days a week (Monday to Thursday).
“Kimbriki has been great, and we work closely with Donna Cliff (Communications and Administration Officer at Kimbriki), who helps us with anything we need,” Terry added.
“At the end of the day, after sorting out the toys, I can just switch off the lights and shut the door and not worry about the safety or security of the building with it being connected to Kimbriki.”
Terry and the volunteers have already started the enormous task of transferring thousands of toys from Ingleside to Kimbriki. While Terry assured us they have it sorted, he did ask if any carpenters are available this weekend (24 and 25 January), he’d appreciate their help in dismantling and moving some pretty heavy bench seats.
From February, the group will be looking for volunteers to help sort and repair toys (particularly anyone with an electrician background who is up for the challenge of fixing electronic toys) and recipients who need the refurbished toys for their clients, either in Australia or overseas.
The charity also relies on financial donations to cover expenses like insurance, so if you have some spare change, please go here for the details on how to top up their bank balance.
Who are these senior citizens repairing discarded toys?
The idea to repair good quality but broken toys was born in 1975 by Don Jackson and Frank McAskill and was formerly known as the Warringah Senior Citizens Toy Repairers. Over the years, the group has had several homes and survived fires and COVID-19 – both threatened to close the group permanently.
Today, the charity rescues thousands of toys from going to landfill, and, in what sounds eerily similar to the storyline in Disney’s Toy Story franchise, senior citizens volunteer to get those toys back to working order and in the arms of kids.
Stuffed teddies are washed and sewn back together. There are dolls who have their hair braided and are re-clothed. Remote control cars are reunited with their controllers. Electronic toys are pulled apart to figure out what wire needs to be reattached.
Once the toys are in working order, they are displayed for local individuals, who work with children and young people (like educators or health professionals), local charities or op shops to collect, or the toys are dispatched to charities around the world who provide toys to children in need. All the toys are donated to children in need and are not available for resale or for the public to collect.
However, the public are encouraged to donate their clean, pre-loved toys and even new toys to the group on Monday to Thursday, 9am to 12pm, at the former Kimbriki administration building (on the left before you go through the Kimbriki boom gates). Or, you can donate toys at the Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre’s Toy Repair Shed, located at Household Problem Waste (Drop-off Point 3), during the centre’s opening hours from 7am to 5pm, seven days a week.
However, it’s more than a recycling centre. As Manly Observer spoke to the volunteers sorting and repairing toys, many told us that while they were there for the environmentalism of saving toys from landfill, they stayed for the social connections.
“When the group first started, Frank McAskill said it would be a good social enterprise for the community,” Terry explained.
“When we have morning tea, there’s always good chatter among the ten or more volunteers on each day. Sometimes I have to get them moving; otherwise, they’d sit there all day chatting.
“It gets them out of being socially isolated, and one of the best parts is we also have people who are on the spectrum or who are neurodivergent and they volunteer with their support worker, and everyone enjoys everyone’s company while sorting and fixing toys.”
The Hub
The Hub is a Kimbriki initiative to recycle and reuse and to prevent as many items as possible from going to landfill. Instead of having charities pay rental fees for community halls or buildings, Kimbriki has offered its former administration buildings to three organisations that reuse, repair and recycle.
Currently, they are Bikes4Life, Peninsula Seniors Toy Recyclers and Boomerang Bags Kimbriki.
“Boomerang Bags use recycled fabric to make items like wombat pouches, or snake bags for WIRES to hold the snakes, or medical bags for the hospitals, like drip bags, or backpacks or pencil cases that go overseas to kids,” Donna Cliff, Communications and Administration Officer at Kimbriki, told Manly Observer.
“They use sewing machines that have been donated and repaired, and they really live by their philosophy of absolutely no waste.”
Bikes4Life repairs discarded and donated adult mountain bikes, which are then sent to places like Cambodia and used for transport to get kids to school through rough terrain.
“It becomes their way to get to school, and without it, they often don’t go to school because there is no other form of transport,” Donna explained.
“The Bikes4Life team check the tyres, gears, chains, make sure it’s all in working order and then pack them into containers to get them ready to send off.”
Bikes4Life only works on adult bikes, but what about kids’ bikes that get dropped off?
As Peninsula Seniors Toy Recyclers is moving to the site full-time, Kimbriki will be expanding their outdoor area to give their volunteers space to repair kids’ bikes to be donated to kids in need.
“We’re going to enclose an outdoor area for them to give them more storage and space to be able to work,” Donna said.
As for any bikes that can’t be fixed, there is a trailer for metal parts, which will be recycled in Kimbriki.
“It’s quite incredible,” Donna said.
“Everything gets used as much as possible in The Hub and there’s very little waste that comes out of here.”
I have toys to donate… new or pre-loved and clean toys can be dropped off at The Hub 9am to 12pm, Monday to Thursday, or at Toy Repair Shed, located at Household Problem Waste (Drop-off Point 3), 7am to 5pm, seven days a week.
I need toys for my organisation or charity… e-mail Terry on cookt308@gmail.com.
I want to volunteer… e-mail Terry on cookt308@gmail.com.
