About Us
Chiltern Toy Bank is a Buckinghamshire based charity, operating in Chesham, Amersham, Prestwood, the Chalfonts and the surrounding villages. We aim to make Christmas a little more special by providing free toys and gifts at Christmas to children, aged 0-18 years old, that would otherwise not receive anything due to financial hardship or other disadvantages of their parents or guardians.
We are solely run by volunteers who believe that no child should go without toys and gifts at Christmas. We also know that the cost of living is increasing for many households. This means that hard decisions have to be made over food, bills and school supplies and this means spending extra money on presents and toys is often a step too far.
Chiltern Toy Bank have been a registered charity since 2017 and work with over 30 volunteers from September to December. We are funded purely through donations from businesses and local communities. Our funds buy toys we may have limited amounts of, like those for teenagers, as well as sundries like toiletries for stocking fillers, wrapping paper and sellotape. We also have ongoing running costs for space to operate out of and reimbursing those volunteers who kindly deliver presents to families for us.
At Chiltern Toy Bank we connect communities, giving families a way to donate pre-loved toys and presents that can be re-gifted to those in need. We also provide a route for businesses to donate surplus stock that we can give out at Christmas time. When these items are received to our warehouse our volunteers check and clean every item carefully to make sure they can be regifted.
We only collect donations at a specific time in the year as the Charity is active only around Christmas time. If you would like to donate toys or gifts please keep an eye on our website and our social media pages for more information about where you can donate and when (generally around October each year).
Once we open registrations, families register online with us to let us know a bit more about their children, what they like and what they don’t like. Our volunteers then pick and pack bags of gifts for each child, aiming to match their likes as much as we can. We then deliver out to families, so the parents and guardians can wrap up everything to put out for Christmas Day.
Familes we've helped
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Children who have received gifts
2020
2021
2022
2023
Governance
Chiltern Toy Bank is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and more information on what this means can be found at the Gov UK website. To ensure the best running of the charity it is looked after by a number of Trustees and more information can be found on them here.
We understand the importance of privacy and as such have a detailed Privacy Policy you can read here that explains what data is held, how it is used and who has access to it.
Want to know more?
Have a look around our website to find out who we work with, how to register as a volunteer, how to register for support and more! If you’d like to talk to one of our Trustees or Volunteers, drop us an email at info@chilterntoybank.org.