Give A Toy Get A Smile

[CancunNurse]

My name is Nancy Myers and I am a Registered Nurse from New York living in Cancun for the past 10 years. I collect toys for the poor and sick children in and around the Cancun area. Tourists coming to the Cancun/Puerto Morelos/Playa del Carmen/Tulum area can bring toys down and drop them off at our drop off sites.


Cancun...Hard Rock Cafe or Needless Things


Puerto Morelos...David Lau's Chinese Food and Pizza


Playa del Carmen...Blue Pearl Suites and Dr. Claudia Lewy


Tulum...Ecotulum Resorts


All of the necessary information can be found on our website:


www.GiveAToyGetASmile.org


You can reach me at any time with any quesitons you might have at give_a_toy@yahoo.com. My husband and I collect toys, clothing, children's band-aids, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shoes, school bags and school supplies coloring books and crayons, (other things are listed on the website) and distribute all of these things to the local children or children living in jungle villages. We also support the children


--in the General Hospital,


--2 schools for children with severe emotional, physical and mental handicaps


--the children with family members that have HIV or AIDS, or they, themselves, have the disease


--the school in Valladolid Nuevo


--The Hogar del Esperanza in Bonfil...an orphanage with 18 children


--La Casita (not really much support because they get alot of support from other groups in Cancun)..an orphanage with 100 children in Cancun.


All of this has been done strictly by the tourists that come to Cancun. If you are coming to the Cancun area, please drop off your toys at one of these sites or contact me (887-5760 my home or 998 204-0072 my cel) and we will take you along on our little adventures of handing out toys to the kids. We're always out and about during the holidays so if you're in Cancun, come join us! The more people that know about us, the more people help us!


On June 15,, we were thrilled to receive a donation of $2,650 usd from Mary Kay Cosmetics European Division. This money will be used to buys toys in New York this summer and making Christmastime alot brighter for these children. AeroMexico has also joined us by donating an extra box to the kids to bring down toys every time my husband returns to Cancun (once every 3 weeks). This allows us to buy a greater variety of toys and donated toys!


One small toy can bring one big smile!

Thanks, Nancy

[CancunNurse]

500 toys gift wrapped and distributed for the 2010-2011 Holiday Season!

[CancunNurse]

The 2010-2011 Holiday Season is finally over. This has been our most successful distribution since Give A Toy, Get A Smile began! We distributed over 500 toys to children in the Cancun community…thanks to the donations and contributions made by the American and Canadian tourists!
December 14, 2010…We visited the children at Pro Niños Excepcionales. These are children with moderate to severe mental, physical and emotional disabilities. We enjoyed a wonderful Posada (Christmas party) and then joined Santa Claus in giving the children their toys. We were happy to include Dennis and Holly Kraftor, a wonderful couple from Missouri. They are responsible for putting hundreds of smiles on hundreds of faces! Amazing what these two people collect and travel to Mexico with! The BIGGEST hugs go out to them. I explained to everyone that it was Holly’s birthday and she enjoyed hearing EVERYONE (even Santa) sing Las Mañanitas, the Mexican version of Happy Birthday! It was heartwarming, to say the least. Thanks, Holly and Den, for making so many dreams come true! 122 toys were given out.
December 17, 2010…My secretary, Laura, Lynn and Dennis Mazzei and I traveled over to Isla Mujeres to visit the children of the Little Yellow Schoolhouse. We were greeted by Lyndell, an American living on Isla Mujeres part time for over 25 years. She and her husband, Steve, help TREMENDOUSLY in supporting the Little Yellow Schoolhouse. They depend on Give A Toy for the toys for the children each Christmas. Steve gets dressed up as Santa and this year, we were lucky enough to have a Mrs. Claus! The children were very excited when we drove up in a truck filled with toys and Santa Ho Ho Ho-ing. 46 toys were given out to the children. We gave out 43 toys. Santa even thought of the teachers this year! Thanks to a wonderful donation by Estee Lauder, each of the teachers received a gift as well…but not before they sat on Santa’s lap! We had a great time and left a lot of smiling children!
December 18, 2010…Again, Dennis and Holly come through. The maintenance and security department men at my apartment complex were each given a Missou t-shirt…of course, they had to line up and show them off at the annual Christmas Party. They are always so happy to receive T-shirts and baseball hats from the United States and Canada….this is the only group of “grown-up” children that I work with.
December 21, 2010…A sweet little group of single moms and kids live in a small area in Puerto Juarez. I decided to help this little group after seeing that they really have no means of support. They were so grateful to receive toys and stuffed animals for the children. We handed out 16 toys.
December 25, 2010…Christmas Day at Hospital General is always a heartwarming experience. I usually hold it together pretty well….the accommodations are SO SAD and sometimes the children are really hurt badly. One little boy, Oscar, about 5 years old, was burned on his legs and couldn’t lay in his bed. When he saw me he wished me Feliz Navidad. When I asked him if he wanted a toy for Christmas, he said he would but that he has a brother and a sister that would like one too. That’s when I lost it. The unselfishness that these children show never ceases to amaze me….and this time it made me cry. I promised him I would return after bringing toys to the other children in the hospital. Once we were done, I went back and gave him toys for his sister and his brother. He said gracias and gave me a kiss…I’ll never forget him.
January 8, 2011…Aprendiendo a Vivhir con SIDA y HIV…How to Learn to Live with AIDS and HIV was the first group I started working with when I began Give A Toy Get A Smile in 2006. This is our 5th year together and it’s wonderful to see so many of the children growing up. They look forward to my return every year and know that they are very special to me. The mom’s have come to know me and have asked me to thank all of the tourists that have generously donated to this organization so that we may provide toys and other necessities to these children. On behalf of this group…A WHOLE LOTTA HUGS! Thank you for making it possible for me to bring these children toys for the last 5 years! 109 toys were handed out.
January 15, 2011…This year was the first year I worked with the children of the Cancun Fire Department. My mom was in Cancun helping me to organize all the toys, since we had so many kids at the last minute. These brave, wonderful young men do not get paid a lot of money and work very hard to keep Cancun safe. They use gardener´s boots instead of fire boots and their jackets are worn or, in most cases, torn. They risk there lives, not only because of the situation, but because of the lack of adequate equipment. Unfortunately, the budget just doesn’t support new equipment! These men deserve much more attention than I could give them but I thought it was only proper to support them this year. After talking with many of the men, I realized this is a group of guys I really want to help. We are starting off by giving out toys to each of their children. We even gave the Firemen a huge Kermit, to keep as the Firehouse mascot. He sat atop the Fire truck as we handed out the toys. We gave out over 140 toys to the happiest bunch of kids ever! It was just as nice to see the smiles on the faces of all the Firemen…we really made their day. Just as we finished distributing the toys, the fire bell rang and off they went, bells clanging into the downtown area of Cancun. I hope to be working with them soon to figure out how to get them some new equipment!
I want to thank each and every person that helped to make these children smile. Life is busy and I want to thank you all for taking the time to think about these kids through your donations. I want to thank all the wonderful people I‘ve met through these efforts. Many have developed into friendships that will last forever! Thank you to all of you that took out your own personal items to have a little extra room for a toy or two. Thank you to those of you that joined me when I went to these locations, over the years. Thank you for your time, for your efforts, your thoughtfulness and unselfishness, your golden hearts and your willingness to help a stranger…all for a smile.
Nancy Claus