In the small workshop at the back of charity Salvamamme (in English it means 'Save mums') in Rome, Guido Pacelli brings broken toys back to life to help the less fortunate families.

The 68-year-old has been a volunteer for the charity since 2011 after he retired from being an aeronautical technician at Alitalia.

In the run-up to Christmas he works 8 hours a day and fixes more than 70 toys per day. He comes across all sorts of toys from stuffed animals and dolls to remote control cars and toy musical instruments.

"When I came here, I saw that people were donating toys in perfect condition like this one, it's fine and just needs cleaning, but many of those toys didn't work so they were thrown away. I offered to try and fix them instead, and that's when it all started," he says.

Salvamamme distributes more than 20,000 repaired toys to poorer families, children of unemployed parents, migrants and sick children.

On distribution days families go to the charity and fill in forms with the help of the volunteers while the children choose their favorite toys. The president and founder of the charity, Maria Grazia Passeri explains "We give the children two toys each because you can love one more than another. Our main goal is to avoid disappointment at Christmas, which would break our hearts."

She says: "We call these objects 'reloved', since they are loved twice: first loved by the parents who donate them and then they are loved by the children who receive them. We also reuse objects and we avoid wasting plastic."