MANGALURU:He brings little packs of cheer to needy children by creating new joy with old toys. Enter this toy world where veteran journalist and writer John Montiero is bringing smiles to the faces of thousands of children by simply recycling old playthings.He started a Johnlyn Toy Exchange and Book Bank to mark the birth anniversary of his wife Lynette after her death in 2017.
He recalls his wife being a voracious reader. “Her forenoons were occupied in cracking crosswords in the four English dailies... with the backup of a battery of dictionaries including one weighing 5kg for which a mobile stand was made to facilitate quick turn-around without rising from her sofa,” John writes about his inspiration to the initiative.
As a child from a rural background, he wasn’t much exposed to toys, he recalls. He is now happy with the joy of the children who have never had a chance to touch big toys but now get a chance to own sophisticated ones that come into the toy bank.
Donors donate used and presentable toys and books at John’s residence or in centres in designated churches and schools in the city. Gift boxes filled at other centres are ‘full of surprises and full of uncertainties’, says John. He recalls receiving a call from Infant Jesus Shrine about the boxes being filled and asking him to come and pick them up. “I went there in my friend’s car, one much bigger than mine. When we returned, the car was packed with presents. I had to carry a cycle on my lap,” he recalls.
These presents then go to John’s outhouse that has been converted into a store room for toys and books, where they are sorted and cleaned. The toys and books are packed in large polythene bags into ‘fair-sized cocktails of presents’, with a slight variation in content for boys and girls. These gift bags would be numbered and children would pick numbers and get the suitable bag. The drive is held once a month in institutions and orphanages where assorted packs of board games, toys and books are given out. While hampers are distributed once a month now, John sees a possibility of bumping it up to two times a month with a packed toy bank.
While there seems a need for helping hands in taking the bank forward, John refuses to be bogged down. He feels blessed to have his friend, who volunteered to pick up the boxes for John in the city. Consignments come in from Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mumbai by buses and he collects them at the transporter’s office.
While the banks have been running well for four months, the only concern for John remains its continuity as the initiative is yet to catch public attention in some pockets.
