DES MOINES, Iowa — With the Barbie movie being so popular, one family collecting hundreds of Barbies thought it was the perfect time to give back.
"Holy buckets, this is Barbie-palooza," said Brenda Miller, executive director of Des Moines Ronald McDonald House.
A large collection of 475 Barbies and 95 Hallmark ornaments are set to be auctioned off through the Ronald McDonald House.
"It was a little more than what we had expected, and we really want to make this worthwhile because it is coming from such a kind place," Miller said.
The Wyatt family had twins in 1985, but after birth, both the babies were immediately transferred to the NICU for five to six weeks.
This forced the Grinnell family to drive to Des Moines every day — nearly an hour trek — that is, until the Ronald McDonald House of Des Moines opened its doors.
The Wyatts said the organization was "a true blessing," so the family is giving back.
"We filled our van and her vehicle as well, complete passenger side full. You could only see the driver in both vehicles, and brought them all back and unloaded them. And I mean this is not even half, I don't think, of them," said Maria Dhabolt, the nonprofit's special events.
Now, this collection full of rare Barbies will be auctioned off, and all proceeds will go towards the the Ronald McDonald House.
"They experienced our mission firsthand and the services that we provide and donations like this, they know will help us keep our doors open and will help us be able to provide that mission on going," Miller said.
The auction will provide overnight accommodations for thousands of families traveling to Des Moines for medical care.
"You know this is going to be a phenomenal auction, so we're going to try and change it out every week. It's going to end at the end of a week, and those that maybe didn't sell we'll keep them on, but were gonna add more, and as you can see it's going to take a while to get through this auction," Miller said.
For more information on the auction you can visit the organization's website, check them out on Facebook or email barbie@rmgdesmoines.org for any questions.
