Children and families on the west side of Victoria never have to run out of toys to play with thanks to an initiative of the Army’s High Point Community Church. The corps operates the Vic West Toy Library, which works much like an ordinary library with families borrowing from the church’s collection of more than 1,000 toys. The church is also open for three hours on Saturday mornings so families can come play with the toys together.

“It’s a community hub,” says Lieutenant Kassie Cain, corps officer. “The toy library is highly valued—people are very thankful for it.”

She notes that the library has experienced incredible growth in the past two years, despite the pandemic. During the initial lockdown period in 2020, the church developed a system by which families could reserve toys online and pick them up in the church’s parking lot.

The toy library is back to normal operations, with COVID protocols in place, and there are now 100 families connected tothe library. Around 50 people come on Saturdays to play with the toys, with new families coming to the program each week.

Lieutenant Cain identifies two major reasons for the library’s popularity. “The families love the community aspect,” she says. “They can come in, meet other families and chat with other parents while their kids play.

“It’s a big space,” Lieutenant Cain adds. “A lot of people in our community live in apartments so they don’t necessarily have the room for their kids to run around or ride toy cars.”

The second reason for the library’s appeal is the fact that it’s environmentally friendly. “The families love that rather than buying a bunch of toys for their kids that they’ll outgrow, they can share and borrow and have less waste,” says Lieutenant Cain. “That’s really important to our community.”

The Vic West Toy Library celebrated its 11th anniversary with a special party in October, complete with birthday cake.

To learn more about the toy library, visit their Facebook page.

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