Helping Families at Christmas - Toy & Book Appeal

The Smith Family has a long and proud association with Christmas. The organisation was founded in 1922 when five businessmen decided to deliver toys to orphans on Christmas Eve. Since then we have grown and developed and what we do has changed to meet the needs of an ever-changing society, but we still deliver toys and books to families at Christmas.

This gesture of goodwill ensures that all Australian families can come together at Christmas to share gifts and celebrate life. The Smith Family continues to provide opportunities for disadvantaged Australians to participate fully and society and we believe that Christmas is a time when all Australians should feel they belong.

Toy & Book Appeal

The Smith Family's Toy & Book Appeal is your opportunity to help bring a smile to a disadvantaged child's face this Christmas. Sadly, thousands of Aussie kids will go without receiving a gift this holiday season simply because their families can't afford it. This year, with your help, The Smith Family aim to deliver over 43,500 new toys and 29,000 new books to children in need around Australia.

You can help

There are three ways you can help:

Purchase a new toy or book online via the Simply Giving website

Simplygiving.com.au/thesmithfamily

It's easy and quick and the gifts will be delivered directly to The Smith Family. Gift giving is just a click away using our convenient online Simply Giving shopping site kindly supplied by ProToys.

Make a donation via our website

thesmithfamily.com.au/goto/donate

Not sure which toy or book to buy? Donate to the Toy & Book Appeal and 100% of your funds will be used to purchase toys and books within the age/gender categories most in need. Remember to choose 'Toy and Book Appeal' in the donation type.

Shop for a gift

Register your collection online here

You can support our Toy & Book Appeal by collecting new toys and books at your workplace, club, school or even with your neighbour's. Register now to receive your information pack and collateral containing everything you need to know to make the collection of appropriate gifts easy.
Remember: Nothing bigger than a school backpack, no wrapping and we currently have most need for children aged between 6 - 12.

Donate a new toy or book at your local BOQ branch

The teams at BOQ branches are helping The Smith Family collect thousands of new toys and books for disadvantaged children this Christmas as part of our Toy and Book Appeal. The branches will act as a drop-off point for new toys and books donated by the public throughout November. To locate your local store please visit http://boq.findnearest.com.au/

More information

Not sure if the Toy & Book Appeal is right for you or your organisation?
Register online to receive more information or contact the Toy & Book Appeal Coordinator in your state:

* Please note currently NT/TAS can only accept online or financial donations for Toy & Book Appeal

A very special thanks

This Christmas, many thousands of individuals and organisations will help us collect, pack and distribute Toy and Book Packs around Australia.  It is an enormous project - from the donation of the first toy, to the packing production lines, to the hundreds of drivers who help deliver the gifts to families in need.
All of these wonderful activities could not be achieved without the generous in kind support given by the following organisations:

• Adelaide Event and Exhibition Centre
• Border Express
• Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
• Melbourne Showgrounds
• Omnilink
• Sydney Showground
• Chep
  
• Colliers
  
• Cleanevent
  
• GE
  
• Grace Removals
  
• Hardys Wine Storage
  
• Linfox
  
• Melway
  
• Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific
  
• Mini Movers
  
• Premier Stateliner
  
• PSMA
  
• Toyota

Christmas Hampers

We recently notified all our families and partners that The Smith Family no longer provides food hampers. We have decided to make this change so that we can instead direct the associated funding into our Learning for Life program activities. This enables us to provide more opportunities to young people throughout the whole year. If you are impacted by this change and would like further information, you may wish to get in touch with us - refer to Contact Us for details of who you can contact.

Clothing

To donate clothing to The Smith Family, please call 1300 737 166 or put it in your nearest Smith Family clothing bin (if bin is full please do not leave goods on the ground). Clothing can be collected in Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, Newcastle, Orange, Bathurst, Blue Mountains, Wagga Wagga, Albury and the Central Coast NSW. More information on clothing donations can be found here.