Parents and children of Warburton have a new toy library after the grand opening of Brushy’s Toy Library on 21 August.
Formerly known as the Upper Yarra Toy Library, the new toy library at ADRA Community Care Warburton would provide toys for children at a fraction of the cost, help families save money and reduce environmental impacts.
ADRA Community Care Warburton manager Kate Barratt said families had found the toy library was a crucial part of the community.
“For a start, the cost of living at the moment is just exhaustive. So to take the cost of having to buy so many things for your kids… is really important,” Ms Barratt said.
“Being able to support them all the time is really exciting.”
Melody May the water fairy was also at the grand opening where she did facepainting for the kids.
Parents can join up to Brushy’s Toy Library for a six to 12 month membership, which allows them to borrow up to five toys at a time from the library.
Toy browsing can be done online or in person. For further information, contact the email: brushystoylibrary@icloud.com.
Alongside toys for younger children, the Brushy’s Toy Library would also supply toys for older children too.
Ms Barratt also pointed out how borrowing toys was better for the environment.
“The environmental benefit is that there’s no waste. People aren’t just chucking things out, they’re renewing their toy stock all the time by just borrowing it.”
The grand opening for the Brushy’s Toy Library was supported by donations from ADCare Community Op Shop.
ADCare Community Op Shop team leader Kathy Kearns said she was pleased to be able to provide the donations for local organisations.
“We were very happy to honour Kate’s request for support for the Toy Library. Our mission as a community op shop is to support the various aspects of our community,” Ms Kearns said.
“Being so far out from the city, it’s really good that parents don’t have to travel too far to actually bring their kids to a toy library.”
The cost of living crisis would also be alleviated by the new toy library, Ms Kearns said, as it helped parents give their children toys at no cost.
“Ordinary working families where both parents are working. High mortgages, high interest rates and high rent. All of that kind of thing is a huge burden on ordinary working families where they can’t afford the extras of sport, library, toys,” Ms Kearns said.
But this new library would be a great opportunity to address that issue.
“It’s wonderful that we can have this opportunity today for a toy library in the community.”
The Upper Yarra Toy Library was opened in March 1984, where volunteers at ADRA Community Care wanted to start a toy library for their own children.
But Ms Barratt said as the volunteers’ kids grew older, a change of hands was needed, which led to the new Brushy’s Toy Library.
“They didn’t want it to fold, and it was just perfect timing for us, because we’ve now been able to create this beautiful Brushy’s play space.
“To invite more families in and be more family friendly, it just works perfectly for us to take it on.”
