Sasha Lipton is not new to the world of community service and helping others. At a young age she spent time with her father delivering food to home-bound seniors for Meals-on-Wheels (www.citymeals.org). Over the years she has worked at numerous soup kitchens and also sponsored a needy child from the Dominican Republic through Children International (www.children.org).
In the summer of 2006, Sasha volunteered as a counselor at Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.org), a retreat for children with life threatening illnesses and their families.
During the same summer, Sasha started Second Chance Toys, her own community-based program to rescue and recycle plastic toys that would otherwise end up in our landfills. She has donated toys to numerous organizations that help needy children throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Sasha got the idea for Second Chance Toys while driving with her mom around neighboring towns. She saw so many toys being disposed of at the curb, and many of them looked as good as new. It got her thinking how these discarded toys were so wasteful, terrible for the environment, and that many children would love to have them.
Because of the uniqueness and dual nature of her program, that of helping needy children and helping the environment, Sasha's efforts have been featured in several newspapers, television and radio shows, including ABC TV News, NBC TV News, WOR News Talk radio and two front page cover stories in the New Jersey Star Ledger.
As part of her community service work, Sasha received the President's Volunteer Service Award on behalf of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. Sasha also received a bronze Distinguished Finalist medallion in the 2008 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for recognition of outstanding volunteer work. She was also recognized with a Resolution from the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders for her work in the community (Union_County_Resolution.pdf). Sasha was a speaker at the Good And Green Marketing Conference in Chicago regarding the impact of Second Chance Toys on children and the environment.
Sasha has involved her family in the effort and due to growing interest from individuals, schools, community groups, and corporations to start local programs, Sasha has created a Second_Chance_Toys_Getting_Started_Kit.pdf to help expand Second Chance Toys. The first couple of affiliate programs are already underway, Second Chance Toys of PA and Second Chance Toys of NYC as well as programs in Boca Raton FL, Chicago IL, Detroit MI and Scottsdale, AZ.
A sophomore at Northwestern University in Illinois, Sasha's vision is to build Second Chance Toys into a thriving national organization with community involvement coast to coast.
