Toys Go 'Round celebrates 24 years, seeks continued community support

In 1992 a group of child care providers in Decorah had a dream of creating a toy lending library that would provide a variety of toys for the children in their care.  They also had a vision of it being a community toy lending library where all children in the Winneshiek County area could play with the toys offered by the toy library.  
 
24 years later, Toys Go 'Round has over 1,000 toys which are loaned out to families, grandparents, child care providers, teachers and others.  Each toy is designed to engage children in their very important task of learning while playing.
The toy library is located in the lower level of the Decorah Public Library at 202 Winnebago Street.  The Decorah Public Library provides in-kind space for the toy library.

Members pay an annual membership fee of $50.00 and check out as many toys as they like, bring them back clean and check out more toys.  The toys are checked out for 3 weeks and can be renewed once.  There is also a three month trial membership for $20.00.  
 
The TGR board purchases the majority of the toys new and strives to choose toys that meet the developmental needs of children ages 6 months to twelve years.  They also have infant equipment such as pack-n-plays.  The toy library expects normal wear and tear on the toys and the occasional lost pieces and finds that the majority of users take very good care of the toys they check out.

The toy library operates under its own 501(c)3 and is currently launching a fund drive to collect money that can be used for the general operational expenses of the toy library, which includes having it open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.  If you would like to make a donation, you can go to their Go Fund Me page at gofundme.com/5fxhgkd2, you can drop it off during the hours they are open or you can mail it to TGR, 202 Winnebago Street, Decorah, Iowa.  Checks should be made out to Toys Go 'Round.