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Mary Didiuk: Encouraging Play

Though the concept of toy libraries has been around since the 1930s, Mary Didiuk has taken it to another level with Guiford-based nonprofit, Traveling Toys. Mary and business partner Diana Caty formed Traveling Toys in 2019 to address a need that they felt was long overdue in many Connecticut towns.

Mary is a longtime resident of Madison. Though she had a long career in the sciences, she used her Ph.D. and post-doctoral education at Harvard to work at Pfizer in cardiovascular drug research for many years. Mary says that despite her love for the work, after her children were born, she began to reflect on how she could make a difference and do so in the most effective way.

“I really just loved it. Pfizer was such a wonderful company to work for. I felt like I was working on projects that would benefit the lives of people; that’s why I went into research. I think that has been what has always driven me to try and help the world in some way,” says Mary. “Having my children, I then realized I wanted to do something that would give back to the community. Madison is such a wonderful town to grow up in, and I think all that led me to forming Traveling Toys.”

Mary says she and cofounder Caty were in sync from the beginning of their concept and strove to help libraries develop a custom fit for their patrons.

“Diana has been really great. We have been friends for a long time and had always wanted to do something together,” says Mary. “We just felt like this was a great opportunity to help kids. Diana really believed in the concept and is such a huge advocate of making the program successful.”

Mary says the concept for the nonprofit was driven by both a commitment to children and also to environmental responsibility.

“When we first started doing research on how we were going to do this, I didn’t realize that the toy industry is a $20 million a year business, and 87% of those toys are ending up in landfills. So, for me, that was shocking to hear that. I understand that the industry is moving in a better direction to make toys that can be recycled, and that is great because that is something we really need to do. But, I think that tied into providing toys and resources to children who don’t have access, and then being able to help the environment at the same time,” Mary says. “Diana and I believe that children should have access to toys.”

Mary says that providing this program ultimately comes down to play; offering an opportunity to simply play is key to developing children who don’t necessarily have the access to platforms that inspire growing minds. She says that educational toys are always part of their programs, but they also want to emphasize the ability of play and interaction as a focus as well.

“Diana and I both believe that all children should have access to toys for play. Those are the tools that every child needs for their learning, and play is a critical part of that,” says Mary. “The American Academy of Pediatrics had written a paper in 2018 that said play is essential to social, emotional, language, and cognitive skills. And that kind of what we are advocates of — free play. And so far, it’s been really great.”

According to Mary, the program is now in six libraries across the state, and the feedback they receive from their partners speaks to how effective the program is in developing interactions and social connections.

“I think COVID slowed us down a bit, but we just received a grant for our sixth library,” Mary says.

Library responses all point to how the program draws in kids not just to take a toy on loan but to interact and form social bonds with gatherings of students of all ages.

According to Mary, the creation of toy libraries begins with conversations between her organization and the local library. Traveling Toys Inc. partners with the local library to identify sources of grant funding and writes the grant applications. Following the receipt of the grant award, Traveling Toys collaborates with the local library to implement the program utilizing eco-friendly items, says Mary.

Her organization conducts its partnerships in full collaboration with libraries, according to Mary. Traveling Toys doesn’t just drop off a load of toys and hope for the best. It carefully coordinates with the children’s librarian and teen’s librarian to help establish the library’s physical presence.

The organization writes all of the grants and then assists the institutions in setting up their programs. The libraries choose what toys mesh with their clientele, and the libraries own all of the toys. Traveling Toys, Inc. also continues to consult and monitor the inventory and audit the success of the lending program, says Mary.

“It really boils down to the culture of the library. When we work with them, we ask them what they need because they are all different,” Mary says. “It’s actually really fun to help set them up.”

Mary says by monitoring the inventory, she and Caty can determine the popularity of each toy and adjust for future needs. According to Mary, the success of the project is assessed by observing the number of toys distributed and the number of children and teens using the toy library; the growth of the program is also recorded by assessing new participants monthly.

Initially, the organization focused on ages 1 through 12, but lessons learned from the pandemic helped evolve their program to include older teens and young adults.

That older age group has more digital and electronic “toys,” but that is also allowing for more interactions and socializing as teens are gathering at several libraries to game and play, Mary says.

“When we started, we just wanted to focus on children, but when we began working with New London, the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut said to us, ‘You need to add teens to this; they are hurting so bad because of COVID,’ and since then we’ve always had a teen component, and the libraries all are trying to implement a teen aspect of the program, and we are so glad at how they jumped on board and helped with that concept,” says Mary.

The toy programs are great for families coming into towns for visits or who have children coming in, says Mary. Instead of lugging toys or buying more, parents and grandparents can simply obtain a toy loan and provide their youngsters with fun and activities when they visit. The program also allows residents to “test drive” a toy before buying one that otherwise might be unused and discarded.

“We are really trying to provide a service for everyone that could possibly benefit from this,” says Mary. “Any library that is interested can contact us. We would love to partner with them.”