By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The Toy Library, a popular indoor playroom for poor children, will close in less than a month.

The nonprofit recently lost its lease, and volunteers haven’t been able to find another home.

“I’ve cried so many times,” said Veronica Hiscock, a volunteer and mother of five. “There’s nothing that can be done. It’s an ending of an era.”

For 13 years, the Toy Library has leased 2,200 square feet in the basement of the United Baptist Church on Main Street. For $2 a visit – or less for families that couldn’t afford it – children had a safe place where they could play for hours. The Toy Library boasted a room-sized sandbox, a giant clubhouse, several old tricycles and a legion of other toys for infants to pre-teens. Parents stayed nearby and often chatted about day care, doctors and support services.

Church officials charged the Toy Library only $150 a month, including utilities, for the space. But after a dozen year-to-year leases, they recently said they needed the area for church business.

Toy Library volunteers spent months searching for a new home. But most spaces were too cramped. Some had lead or asbestos problems. Others didn’t have parking.

A few fit the Toy Library’s needs, but they were too expensive. Even 1,500 square feet would cost at least $800 a month.

The Toy Library makes less than $10,000 a year from memberships and fund-raisers. It would need much more to pay rent, keep up with its bills and care for the toys. And the space would still be 700 square feet too small.

After a story about the Toy Library ran in the Sun Journal a month ago, volunteers did receive one phone call, Hiscock said. But it wasn’t from a helpful landlord looking to subsidize a tenant.

A small-town, for-profit playroom wanted the Toy Library’s membership list.

Hiscock said no.

Instead, she and volunteers scoured the region for sponsors. She wrote to local and national businesses looking for grants or donations, anything to get more money coming in.

“But they take time. And time is something we don’t have,” Hiscock said.

The Toy Library’s church lease ends Aug. 31. To make the deadline, volunteers would have to begin moving the playroom’s mass of books and toys by mid-August. They’d have to notify members in July.

They waited until the last minute. On Monday, the board of directors voted to close the playroom.

The Toy Library will stay open through the first week in August. Two birthday parties are planned for Saturday, Aug. 6.

Then, less than 24 hours later, volunteers will auction off the toys and furniture collected during 13 years.

Annual members will receive refunds based on the time left on their memberships. Any leftover toys or extra money will be donated to charity.

Despite it all, Hiscock and her friends haven’t given up completely. With a loosely organized plan, they’re hoping to buy and store away some of the playroom’s toys. Find some money. Get a new space.

It could take months, Hiscock said. Still, she feels like she has to try.

“We’re done, but it’s not over,” she said