As a way to give back the Orlando community, LifeTRAVELED arranged a volunteering with Orlando's Baby DJ to help with their holiday toy drive for families in need. Due to COVID, our coordinator was unable to attend, but our participants share their experiences below.

Francesca Dychangco / Intern

The experience with volunteering with Baby DJ was encouraging and heartening. The moment we walked past inside the doors, the volunteers helped endlessly to make sure the event went seamless. As Johnny gathered everyone up, he started talking about how the families that were invited had a rough time coping through the aftermaths of the pandemic, that they could not even shell out money to buy presents for their kids this Christmas. Let me tell you, I totally shed a tear or two because I am emotional with those kinds of stories. I remembered my parents buying toys for us every Christmas without fail and with the event Baby DJ’s team has done will surely lift the Christmas spirit for hundreds of families.

As soon as Johnny finished up his peptalk, the ladies gathered around to help our shoppers pick out the toys that their kids want while the gentlemen lined up outside to help with their shopping haul. My first shopper was a father of four. We did not talk much except for the occasional how was your day going and what did the boys like and the oh the boys would love this the most, but instead, I watched his body language. I can feel that he was overwhelmed at the choices that he can take for the boys because I saw his eyes well up. I remembered he got toy figurines for the boys, a scooter, and a bicycle. I also placed in the bag a couple of stocking stuffers. It was a silent shopping experience for the most part. But I felt the relief and gratefulness at the end because we looked at each other and his eyes were welling up and had a tint of red in it. I did nothing else but hand him the toys and wish him a Merry Christmas. I had to go to the breakroom because I got emotional once more.

I had more shoppers with me but most of them were Spanish-speaking shoppers, so we had a huge language barrier and ended up laughing for the most part. It was only with the first shopper that I ended up being so emotional because it made me think about the millions of families who tried their best to make their children happy for Christmas but was unable to do so because of financial reasons. The volunteering experience made me want to become more proactive in helping communities and connecting with them through their stories. Thank you LifeTraveled for this experience! It will be one of those experiences I will carry with me through life.

Paz Mauro / SWT

Hi! My name is Paz Mauro, I am a J1 student from Paraguay doing the work and travel program in Loews Hotel Orlando. The past December 22 nd. I was invited to participate in the Baby DJ event and I decided to do it even when I never did something like that before. And was one of the best experience ever! We were a team of volunteers helping families who unfortunately have had a little bit of struggle financially this year to get present gifts for their kids. I enjoyed every minute there helping people choosing the toys they wanted to give to their kids and how happy they were to bring joy in Christmas. That insignificant moment gave us (the families and volunteers) to understand the value of the family and that made us happy too. I would definitely doing this again if the sponsor give me the opportunity to participate again in the future. And I’m very glad for that event.

Cultural Happenings: Toy Drive Volunteering