A little girl with a big heart organised a toy drive ahead of Christmas for families in need.

Isla Lengyel-Lagan, 6, originally packed a bag of essential items for the One Love Bermuda Relief Effort organised by multiple groups last month for Jamaica following the devastation left by Hurricane Melissa.

When Isla shared the news with Cathy Bassett, a leader of the First Smith’s and First Devonshire Girl Guides group where she is a member, Ms Bassett commended her and said there may also be young children in Bermuda who needed help.

This inspired Isla to reach out to all the Rainbows and Brownies in her group to ask them to donate new and gently-used toys that could be given to a local charity.

Within days, her fellow Girl Guides donated more than 20 items.

Julie Allen, a leader for the group, identified the charity Home, which provides housing and support for families without secure housing, as a deserving recipient.

Home has a transitional living facility on Parsons Road, Pembroke called Home for Families, serving women and their children, which proved a perfect fit.

Trey Durham, the assistant case manager at Home, received the donations on Monday from Julie Allen, a leader of the Girl Guide group.

Mr Durham said: “At Home for Families, we cater to women and their children aged 11 years old and under. We have four families in house right now and they are definitely going to be grateful for this.

“People who have fallen on hard times come to us and we house them. A lot of them don’t have much family support or any support at all so all of these toys will be gratefully appreciated. It will make someone’s Christmas very, very special.”

On receiving the gifts, Mr Durham relayed a message to Isla, who could not attend the handover, as she was at school.

She said: “We at Home are extremely excited you are doing this for us. Thank you and keep up the great work. It’s people like you who make the world a good place.”

Ms Allen added: “The toy drive started with Ms Isla who wanted to do something for the community.

“We had a great turn out — we have all sorts of toys including puzzles, dolls, roller skates and Lego sets.

“This is typical of the type of thing we do at Girlguiding Bermuda; we are focused on giving back to the community, environmental programmes and conservation.”