Children’s Fund Grant for Toy Lending Library

The Toy Lending Library (TLL), a nonprofit founded in Sioux Falls in 2015, creates opportunities for children zero to five years old to enhance their learning development through play. The TLL currently has over 1,500 toy boxes that can be checked out by families free of charge from sixteen locations. 

Anelis Coscioni, the Executive Director of the TLL and a South Sioux Falls Kiwanian, identified a need for more accessible toys based on feedback from surveys included in the toy boxes. In response to this need, our club applied for a Kiwanis Children’s Fund Grant in December 2022 to expand the collection of toy boxes in order to make play more accessible to children of all abilities. In February 2023, we were delighted to learn that our club would be awarded a Kiwanis Children’s Fund Grant. Our club provided matching funds as well as volunteer support to help create 35 new toy boxes focused on fostering opportunities for inclusion and play for all children. 

The South Sioux Falls Kiwanis Club, Kiwanis Children’s Fund, and South Dakota Parent Connection provided $4,080 to create toy boxes focusing on children with visual or auditory impairments, autism, sensory disorders, and physical disabilities or rare diseases. The TLL collaborated with experts at the University of South Dakota Center for Disabilities to select the toys and books for the boxes.

Our Treasurer, Dave Reimnitz, purchased the toys and books online for the toy boxes, and club members volunteered each month to help prepare the toy boxes for families. This included opening and organizing the toys, marking each piece with the letters “TLL” so caregivers know which items belong in the box, and sanitizing the toys before placing them in the boxes. Since each of the toy boxes in the collection has a sponsorship label, this was also a wonderful opportunity to increase awareness of the work that Kiwanis does for young children in the community.

Each toy box contains one or more toys, two books, informational materials for caregivers, and one important insert that discusses the project and offers ideas on how children can build friendships with a child who looks or acts differently:  they should ask the child and/or the caregiver what is the best way to play together. All children want to play, and play is the best way for children to learn new skills or forge new friendships. 

Families can check out these toy boxes from local libraries, and most boxes in the collection also include ideas on ways to play and learn together with the specific items in the box.  When the toy box is returned to the TLL, the items are sanitized by our Kiwanis club and other volunteers before they are sent back to the library for the next family to check out.  The majority of the toy boxes are sent to libraries in and around Sioux Falls, but the organization has also expanded to South Dakota libraries in Parkston, Yankton, Vermillion, and Madison. 

Thanks to the joint efforts of the Kiwanis Children’s Fund, our Kiwanis club, volunteers, TLL staff, community members, educators, and local experts, we are proud to report that our project was completed in October 2023! The first boxes of the collection have been sent to libraries to be checked out and enjoyed by families. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve the children of our community through this project, and to play a role in creating inclusion!

More information on the project can be found here.