Donation Guidelines for toys and other items

We are grateful that you are interested in donating items for the patients and families at East Tennessee Children's Hospital. Items are always needed for children to use while they are hospitalized or while they are receiving treatment in the Scott M. Niswonger Emergency Department or in the outpatient clinics. Items are also appreciated for gifts for patients on their birthdays, for special holidays, for off-therapy parties and for other celebrations and treatment milestones. The age range of our patients who will receive the gifts is birth to 21 years.

To deliver donations, please call the Volunteer Services Department at (865) 541-8136. Donations may be left at the Information Desk in the main lobby of the hospital or delivered to Volunteer Services. Please attach your name and address to your donation.

What We Can Accept
What We Cannot Accept
Suggested Items To Donate
Infant/Toddler Items
Preschool Items
School-Age Items
Teen Items
Other Items We Welcome:

1. Phone Cards
2. Gift Cards
3. Magazines
4. Scrapbooking supplies
5. Batteries
6. Clothing
7. Food for family kitchens
8. Hospitality Cart

 What We Can Accept

• New toys, books, and games (seelist of appropriate suggestions)
• Craft kits and materials that are nontoxic
• Used hard plastic toys that are in "like-new" condition (Fisher Price, Playschool, and Little Tykes)

 What We Cannot Accept 

• Because we serve children of various faiths and beliefs, we cannot accept materials with a religious theme.
• Used items such as fabric dolls, stuffed animals and cardboard games and puzzles cannot be accepted because of difficulty of cleaning and infection control issues.
• Used toys that are not made of hard plastic.
• Food and candy items are not permitted because many of our patients are on special diets. See below for information on food items that may be donated for patient families.
• Rubber/latex balloons are not permitted because of the hazards of choking and latex allergies.
• Toys with detachable parts such as button eyes are not appropriate, because they can be removed and swallowed or inhaled.

 Suggested Items To Donate: 

INFANT/TODDLER ITEMS:

• Busy boxes
• Stacking toys and nesting cups
• Plastic rattles and teethers
• Push/pull toys and pop-up toys
• Shape sorters
• Crib activity centers
• Telephones
• Plastic books
• Lullaby CDs and musical toys
• Non-breakable infant mirrors
• Hard plastic toys that can be washed  

PRESCHOOL ITEMS: 

• Duplos/Legos
• Bristle blocks
• Games: Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land
• Matchbox cars
• Dinosaurs, farm animals
• Baby dolls, clothes
• Barbie dolls, clothes
• Balls
• Bubbles
• Age-appropriate DVD movies (rated G)
• Fisher Price Medical Play kit
• Fisher Price people, house, farms, airport
• Fisher Price CD players
• Hard plastic toys that can be washed
• Video games (for Wii, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo DS, PSP, etc.; rated EC only).

 SCHOOL-AGE ITEMS:

• Any items featuring "Dora the Explorer," "Finding Nemo" or "Sponge Bob"
• Etch-A-Sketch or Magna Doodle
• Age-appropriate DVD movies (rated G or PG)
• Trucks by Tonka
• Games: Sorry, Connect Four, Battleship, Monopoly Junior, Clue Junior, Guess Who?
• Portable CD players with ear phones
• Lincoln Logs and Legos
• Coloring books and crayons
• Sewing Cards
• Hand-held electronic games
• Disposable 35mm camera with flash
• Children's magazine subscriptions
• Craft kits

 TEEN ITEMS:

• Gift cards (especially for sporting goods, electronics, movie theaters or video stores -- see below for a list of suggested stores)
• Games: Playing cards, Uno cards, Monopoly, Simon, Trivial Pursuit (all versions), Chess, Checkers
• Music CDs
• Age-appropriate DVD movies (rated G, PG or PG-13 only)
• Stationery
• Jewelry and watches
• Manicure sets or bath/body sets
• Digital or disposable film cameras
• Pen and pencil sets
• Craft kits
• Sports equipment
• White t-shirts for craft activities
• Hair accessories, brushes, combs
• Teen magazine subscriptions (Sports Illustrated, Teen, Seventeen, Teen People, Car & Driver, Justine)
• iPod's or mp3 players and accessories (such as speakers)
• books
• ideo games (for Wii, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo DS, PSP, etc.; rated E or E10+ only).  

OTHER ITEMS WE WELCOME:

Phone Cards – For families of modest means or families who are here frequently, there's a great need to keep in touch with family at home, but long distance phone calls can become costly. It is a great help to these families to have long-distance phone cards in any amount of minutes.

Gift Cards – Many of our patients and their families have specific needs or wants that can be most easily met with gift cards. These cards allow teens to have the fun of choosing their own gift on a special occasion. Gift cards can also be used to help families with limited incomes to meet specific material needs. And during the December holidays, gift cards help the hospital to provide a brighter season to needy patient families. Parents who receive the gift cards have an opportunity to buy a few items of their own choosing for their kids or for their household. Gift cards from the following retailers and businesses in any amounts starting at $5 are especially useful:  

• Babies R Us
• Discount retailers (Target and Walmart)
• Electronics stores (Best Buy and hhgregg)
• Family clothing stores (Kohl's)
• Grocery stores (Kroger, Ingles, Food City)
• Movie theaters (Regal and Carmike)
• Restaurants (fast food and casual dining)
• Simon Gift Cards (available at Knoxville Center and West Town Mall) or Visa gift cards (available at many financial institutions, drug stores and grocery stores) for use anywhere Visa cards are accepted
• Sporting goods stores (Dick's Sporting Goods, Champs Sports and Hibbett Sports )
• Toys R Us
• Online retailers (iTunes, Amazon.com)  

Magazines – Donors can purchase subscriptions of new magazines for use in hospital waiting rooms or collect magazines, that are 3 months old or less, to bring to the hospital. No magazines that are religious in nature or deemed inappropriate for all age groups will be accepted. Magazine subscriptions ordered for the hospital should be addressed to: Volunteer Services Dept., Children's Hospital, P.O. Box 15010, Knoxville, TN 37901. Here is a list of appropriate magazine titles:  

• Cooking publications (like Cooking Lite)
• Entertainment Weekly
• Family Circle
• Good Housekeeping
• Justine
• Ladies Home Journal
• Martha Stewart
• More
• O
• Parents
• People
• Reader's Digest
• Redbook
• Self
• Southern Living
• Sports Illustrated
• Sports Illustrated for Kids
• Teen People
• Woman's Day  

Scrapbooking supplies – In 2004, Children's Hospital began a scrapbook program for each baby who is admitted to the Haslam Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Children's Hospital patients at some of our summer camps also participate in scrapbooking projects.

Batteries – As children's toys increasingly go electronic, we use a larger number of batteries each year. Donations of batteries, especially sizes C and D, are great for keeping all our patients' toys and entertainment items in working order.

Clothing – The Children's Hospital Volunteers maintain a Clothing Closet to help our patient families with emergency clothing needs. The following new or gently used clothing items are needed (in all sizes, infant to adults): elastic waist/casual pants, sweat pants, sweat shirts, long-sleeved T-shirts, new underwear and socks are needed. The Clothing Closet also needs basic toiletry items, including toothbrushes and travel/hotel-size shampoo, soap, deodorant and toothpaste.

Food for family kitchens – Each patient floor has a family kitchen or lounge where families can prepare simple meals and snacks, and donated food items can be provided to the families in these areas. Items such as individual canned fruit or applesauce (with a pop-top or peel-off top so no can opener is needed), bags of microwave popcorn, microwavable canned soups and pasta dishes, small individually wrapped snacks (such as pretzels, graham crackers, fruit snacks, cheese crackers, cookies, candy, etc.), breakfast and cereal bars, and individual servings of beverages (juice boxes and canned or bottled sodas, juices, iced tea, water and lemonade). Due to food safety guidelines, no homemade foods can be accepted, and all donated food items must be nonperishable commercially prepared and packaged/sealed in single servings.

Hospitality Cart – The Volunteer Services and Resources Department accepts donated items for the Family and Friends Hospitality Cart. All items are provided free to families.Items needed include pens, note pads, lip balm, hand lotion, sanitizer, magazines and other similar items.