Every year for her birthday, Moorestown Upper Elementary School fourth-grader Simran Sinha would get so many presents from friends and classmates she wouldn’t know what to do with them. Her parents would tell her and her sister that they should donate their presents rather than keep them.
This year, Simran decided to do some good and give back for her birthday. Simran had her 10th birthday party on Dec. 14, and she decided she would donate all her presents to Toys for Tots.
“I wanted to make kids happy. I have enough presents from my birthday at home that I wanted to donate to Toys for Tots,” Simran said.
Priti, Simran’s mother, told her daughter to make a list of presents she would like for her birthday. Instead, she received a response she wasn’t expecting. She just wanted to donate her gifts this year.
“I kept telling them, ‘You don’t need these things. It would be nice to donate at least some of it.’ After listening to that and having a few kids do it years before around the holidays, I guess she decided to donate,” Priti said.
Simran was very happy to say she is donating her presents and that she wouldn’t miss getting them this year.
“I’m getting presents from my family, and that is all I need,” Simran said.
Simran feels proud she’ll be helping the less fortunate. Priti agreed, proud that her daughter thought to donate.
“I’m really proud of her. For such a young age, to say just donate all of my gifts, it makes me really happy,” Priti said.
Simran originally wanted to donate her presents to children at a hospital, but through some research, Priti found it was hard to do that.
So, instead, they decided to donate the gifts through the company for which Simran’s father works, since it is running a Toys for Tots drive.
Both Simran and Priti hope the presents go directly to the children and they get a lot of enjoyment out of the donation.
“I hope it makes someone else’s holiday special. I know many people don’t have anything, not even the basics. It’s the holiday season, so it would be nice that they have the basics as well as something special,” Priti said.
“I hope they are really happy and they have a fun time playing with their toys,” Simran said.
To learn more about Toys for Tots, or to find a donation location, visit www.toysfortots.org.
