Local woman creates toy swap for economic-impacted families ahead of Christmas

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — For Kelly Mashburn, she noticed a problem.

Secondhand stores would sometimes run out of Christmas gifts.

"There's a lot of families during the holiday season who are looking for Christmas toys, who can't afford them at regular stores, and they tend to fall empty when looking [at secondhand stores] because nobody is actually donating prior to Christmas," Mashburn said. "They're donating after Christmas."

So she created the Moon City Toy Swap, located at Moon City Pub on Commercial Street.

"I wanted to do something bigger and I created this event so that people could come in here and basically get free toys instead of having to pay for them, even at thrift stores," Mashburn said.

Mashburn says people can trade gently used toys in good condition, or if someone doesn't have anything to trade, they can still shop the selections.

"We're hoping that whenever people come in here, they can bring also their own gently used things so they can also contribute. Whenever they show up, it's kind of on a person-by-person basis, whatever their situation is, we give them some tickets. There is kind of like an equivalent of cash, and then they can just walk around and basically shop for however many tickets they have is how many toys they grab from the table," Mashburn said. "If they truly don't have anything, they feel like they can donate, they can come in here and we're going to help them out regardless."

Mashburn says this is influenced by her childhood.

"My mom was the mom who needed extra help. I've actually had to come to Commercial Street as a child with her seeking different kinds of help, so being here at Moon City on Commercial Street was very, very important to me. I felt like it has a history with helping people who are in need," Mashburn said. "Whenever I put this on, my mom was in my head the whole time and the ways that she went above and beyond in her positions to try to make sure that we were taken care of."

Corie Godsy, one of the owners of Moon City Pub says hosting the event was a no-brainer.

"She came, brought this idea to us and we were like, absolutely, that's a great idea," Godsy said. "People need that this time of year and we just want to be a part of it. I think she's wanting to make this a bigger event as the years go by."

"Maybe the more people who hear about it and want to get involved, it might end up being a Commercial Street thing where there's things going on all down and people can just shop at the different places on Commercial Street," Mashburn said.

Tuesday was the first day of the swap, where we caught up with shopper Kelly Norman, who found out about the swap from social media.

"My daughter is a single mom, so I asked her if she wanted to give some of her things that her son isn't using anymore so we could do the swap and make somebody else's Christmas. I love the idea behind it," Norman said. I love the swap idea and obviously, it's an economically viable option for people that might not have a lot of money.

Norman says the economic impact is all too familiar.

"My grandson is type one diabetic. There's a lot of things that we have to pick over other things. So this is just going to make his Christmas," Norman said. "I wish we would normalize re-gifting things, homemade breads and jams and things like that, bringing those kind of things back to Christmas. Whatever your gifts and skills are, you offer those as gifts instead of stressing them and coming out of Christmas with this financial burden."

Norman and Mashburn say it's an event that helps both the parent and the child.

"This is really what it's about, is seeing their face on Christmas morning, and it doesn't matter if it was brand new in the package or not," Norman said.

"The kids, they want something special, but I also wanted the parents to feel a little bit of dignity. The combo was super important to me," Mashburn said.

The Toy Swap is not open Wednesday but will be open Thursday, December 12 at 3 p.m.

Mashburn told OzarksFirst on Tuesday that she would likely stay from 3 p.m. until Moon City Pub closes.