Off the back of its Bookarama success, Rotary Club of Ōamaru is toying with a new fundraising idea.

Toyorama will take place for the first time next month, in the hope that people have as many stacks of unused toys looking for new homes, as they did books.

Rotary volunteer Ele Ludemann said the idea was inspired by the success of Bookarama.

“We figured that if people have books that they no longer want to read, they may well have toys that their children have grown out of and want to send to good homes, rather than having them filling up cupboards, and getting in their way and maybe deteriorating as things get broken, or whatever.”

Good quality second-hand toys, games, sports equipment, bikes, baby gear, e-games, and puzzles are being sought, and can be dropped off at either North Otago Motor Group or Simpsons Flooring Xtra. 

Toyorama will run the weekend of 18-20 August in the same site as Bookarama - the former Noel Leeming premises at 145 Thames Street. From the week before the sale, people could drop their items off there, Ele said.

If people need items picked up, they can phone Jim Hopkins on 0211143189.

“We’re just doing it for two and a half days. That’s how Bookarama started, and then it got longer, but we thought this is really an experiment to see how it works.”

While Bookarama took a lot of time and work, it was a team effort, and raised close to $50,000 this year for community organisations. Toyorama offers another opportunity to help the community, she said.

“We’re very aware that money is tight at the moment, and therefore obviously we’ll be well below retail price with what we’re selling, but also we’ll be making money to give to community initiatives. And when life is as tough as it is at the moment, there are some pretty big needs in the community.”

The bulk of the amount raised by Bookarama this year went to the Waitaki Event Centre fundraising efforts. It had not yet been decided where the Toyorama money would go.

“Just like Bookarama, it depends on the public giving to us and buying from us.”

Toyorama would open on Friday, 18 August at 10am and run until 8pm, on Saturday from 10am-5pm, and Sunday 10am-1pm.

The fundraiser will be a first for Ōamaru’s new Rotary Club president Ian Wallace, who took over from Sven Thelning last month.

Ian moved to Otematata with his wife Janet about two and a half years ago, from Christchurch.

He has been a part of Rotary for 23 years, but his association went back more than 50 years, after being part of a Rotary exchange as a high school student, when he went to Cheyenne, Wyoming in the United States.

“It was a great experience.”

Ian remained in touch with his Rotary “brothers” from Wyoming, and had “travelled extensively as a result of Rotary”.

Between Rotary and another agricultural programme they had been involved in, he and his wife Janet have hosted more than 30 exchange students, he said.