We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lily DuBose. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lily below.

Lily, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas and I was 8-years-old. We had lots of tornado warnings and I remember sitting in my closet watching my moms I-pad. While watching the news, I saw many kids having to evacuate their homes because of the flooding and I immediately knew I had to do something. I felt the best thing for me to do was to give away my own toys. My neighborhood flooded so I started giving toys to those kids. Soon after, my friends and family heard about what I was doing and lots of new toys started arriving to our house.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

When I was 8 years-old, I started giving away my own toys to kids who lost their homes during Hurricane Harvey. The first toy I gave away was one of my LEGO sets and still today LEGO’s are my favorite toy to give away. I didn’t even know what a non for profit was but I’ve always been interested in business. So when I had the chance to start Lily’s Toy Box a 501(c)(3) nonprofit I knew I had to do it. My mission is to provide new toys to kids going through difficult situations. This can be from a natural disaster, illness, and for many other reasons. Now I have my own warehouse and have given over 31,000 new toys away in over 26 states.

I’ve been able to work with some really cool people from Alex & Reagan Bregman with Bregman Cares, Learning Express, Athleta, Tiff’s Treats, American Girl, Brothers Produce and so many others. I would love to work with Elon Musk and LEGO!

It’s been fun having Lily’s Toy Box but requires a lot of extra work. I am in the 8th Grade, play sports and then go home and work on toy selections or helping make decisions. One of my favorite times of the year is Christmas and we try to make it special for all of the kids we help. Every toy is wrapped and we put the child’s name on it to make it extra exciting for them.

Lily’s Toy Box is run on monetary donations and 100% of the money goes to toys for kids. We also love new toy donations and are able to get all of the work completed thanks to our amazing volunteers.

I hope to keep giving through college and beyond as it just makes me so happy to see others smile.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Finding funding for my nonprofit is very hard. We rely on monetary donations, new toy donations and lots of volunteers.

How’d you meet your business partner?

My business partner is my mom. We work really well together and I love being able to help the world with her.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lilystoybox.com
• Instagram: @lilystoybox
• Facebook: @lilytstoyboxtexas
• Linkedin: Lily DuBose
• Twitter: @lilystoybox
• Youtube: Lily’s Toy Box

Image Credits
Bread & Water Productions LLC Jessica DuBose