Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Rapid City Woodworkers Association Toy Deliveries to YFS - Dec. 10, 2013 --- Media Links

Links to Stories by local Media - click on the links below to see video and photos of the toy delivery event held today at the YFS - Plaza Drive Facility.



KOTA TV - story by By Alexa Block, News Reporter

http://www.kotatv.com/story/24187109/woodworkers-of-hadncraft-gifts-for-kota-territory-kids

Newscenter 1

Members of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association have also been busy making thousands of toys for children around the Black Hills and Tuesday morning members of the RCWA delivered more than 700 handmade wooden toys to the Youth and Family Services.

Hundreds of children were present to receive their gifts and the look of joy on the children face would warm anyone's heart.

Click on the link below to watch a news video clip:
http://www.newscenter1.tv/stories/14876.aspx



KEVN - story by Jack Caudill

http://www.blackhillsfox.com/201312112269/rc-woodcarvers-deliver-handmade-toys.html



Rapid City Journal (RCJ)

Photos and captions by Benjamin Brayfield


RCJ Front Page Photo 12-11-2013:

Newspaper clipping:



RCJ Photos on website:










To get to the HOME PAGE of the Rapid City Woodworking Association website, click on the link below:
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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Toy Deliveries to YFS - Dec 10, 2013


Don't forget Tuesday morning - we will meet at the Club for Boys at 8:30 am to pickup boxes for Youth and Family Services and then proceed to the Plaza Drive facility of YFS for delivery by 9 am.  Try to find that red hat if you can! 


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Family Christmas Potluck Dinner - Dec 9, 2013

All - just a reminder that our monthly general meeting is Monday Dec 9th - it will be our Family Christmas Potluck Dinner - so we will start at 6 pm at the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church fellowship room at 910 Wood Avenue in Rapid City.  All the fixings will be provided so just bring your food items.  We will open the church around 5:30 pm in case you need to warm something.




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Toy Packing Event - Dec. 7, 2013

INTRODUCTION.
The Toymakers in the Rapid City Woodworking Association (RCWA) have been working all year to finish the toys in time for Christmas giving.  This year, this small group of 20 Toymakers finished over 2000 handcrafted wooden toys, all of which will be delivered Dec 7 -10th to local charitable organizations who work with children in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls areas. 
The toys made this year were packed for delivery this Saturday morning Dec 7, 2013, in the shop at the Club for Boys and will then be delivered (at no cost) to 18 organizations in South Dakota.   Most of the toys were delivered on Saturday.  The last group of toys will be delivered on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013, at 9 am to the Youth and Family Services office on Plaza Drive in Rapid City.  We will also have an opportunity to pass out the toys to the children at the facility.
TOY PROGRAM.
The Toy Program is a large part of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association activity calendar.   Toy production starts in January of each year and continues all the way up to Toy Packing Day the first week of December.   Activities leading up to the Toy Packing Event for the Rapid City Woodworkers Association Toy Program included numerous daily workshops at individual members shops for preparing parts, and weekend workshops for assembling parts into completed toys.   In October each year, we begin the weekly weekend workshops to complete the toys for delivery to kids by early December.
One of the preparation activities includes making cloth bags to hold wooden critters cut by members using scroll saws.  Several members of the group work all year making the cloth bags.  The last thing in this production effort involves packing each cloth bag with a number of wooden critters.  On Dec 1, 2013, this effort was completed as shown below:



(Clicking on any photo will bring up a gallery of all photos in this blog.)



This year we moved our completed toy inventory consisting of over 2000 handmade wooden toys to the sorting area in the Kitchen of the Club for Boys on Dec 2, 2013.  The temperature during the move was in the low 60's.


This was the temperature on Packing Day - which is why we moved toys on Dec 2nd.

TOY PACKING.

On Dec 7, 2013 at 9 am, we assembled our crew of pickers, inventory expediters, and packers in the Kitchen of the Club for Boys and began the most enjoyable part of the Toy Program.  We packed over 120 boxes of toys for delivery to 18 organizations in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls areas.

The picking line included 22 different categories of toys lined up on tables.  A team of members with a toy pick list and a clipboard started down the line filling the box according to the pick list. 


Inventory expediting was handled by Gary K, while team members Julian, Larry, Darwin and Lauree filled the toy pick lists.
 
 
The pickers move the open boxes of toys to the packing area where the packers start packing each box in preparation for transportation to the local organizations.  The packers ensure that the toys all fit inside the box and then tape each box so that it can be moved safely to its destination.   Each box is marked with the box number and the organization number.
 
 
Rick is supervising the packing effort - his elves included Grant, Frank, Levi and Steve.
 


With lots of room to spare, the effort was completed in under two and a half hours.
 
Members who helped pack toys today were Lon, Julian, Gary and Denise, Darwin and Lauree, Steve, Rick, Grant, Frank, Gary G, Larry D, Levi, and Kathie and Bob.
 
Detailed Press Release Information

For the 6th year in a row, the Rapid City Woodworkers Association will be donating handmade wooden toys to the following organizations in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls areas:

Youth & Family Services - Prenatal to Five Headstart Programs (9 at various locations)
Youth & Family Services - Boys Health Advocacy Program
Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity
The Club for Boys
Working Against Violence Inc
Benji's House
Ellsworth Air Force Base - Airmen and Family Readiness Center
The HOPE Center
LOVE Inc.
Needs Free - Sioux Falls 

The Toymakers in the Rapid City Woodworking Association (RCWA) have been working all year to finish the toys in time for Christmas giving.  This year, this small group of 20 Toymakers finished over 2000 handcrafted wooden toys, all of which will be delivered next week to local charitable organizations who work with children in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls areas. 
 
The toys made this year will be packed for delivery this Saturday morning Dec 7, 2013, in the shop at the Club for Boys and then delivered (at no cost) to 18 organizations in South Dakota.   Most of the toys will be delivered that same day.  The last group of toys will be delivered on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013, at 9 am to the Youth and Family Services office on Plaza Drive in Rapid City.  We will also have an opportunity to pass out the toys to the children at the facility.
 
In 2008, the group made and gave over 300 toys for the Club for Boys, WAVI, and Benji’s House.  The number of toys produced since then has increased each year.  For those interested in numbers, a summary of the toy making progress is shown below:
 
Year
Toys
2008
300
2009
1260
2010
1430
2011
1620
2012
2001
2013
2271
 
8882

The organization receiving over 1/3 of the toys is the Youth and Family Services in the Black Hills.  Almost 700 children are involved in the Youth and Family Services in the Black Hills from as far north as Spearfish and as far south as Edgemont.  The woodworkers have received very positive feedback from all organizations that have received the toys; they are excited that they have been included in our toy program.  Another 1/3 of the toys will be delivered to an organization called Needs Free in Sioux Falls.  This organization works with a large number of child-oriented programs.
If anyone would like to help build and assemble toys for the 2014 Toy Program, we can always use an extra hand.  Members donate their time and equipment, but we can use donations of surplus wood or monetary donations for operating expenses.  We have recently moved our Toymaking shop to the Club for Boys at 320 N 4th Street St in Rapid City, SD.  This gives us additional opportunities to work directly with kids on woodworking projects.  Call Bob Buchanan at 348-2865 or check our website  http://www.sdwoodworker.org/ for more information:  Monetary donations can be mailed to our RCWA Treasurer, Julian Wigen at 3010 Morningview Drive in Rapid City, SD, 57702.
The mission of the RCWA is to promote woodworking safety, skills and knowledge, for the amateur, professional and student craftsperson.  The RCWA was formed to meet the needs of the woodworkers in the Rapid City area.  We meet on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City.  We cordially invite men and women of all ages who have an interest in woodworking to attend our meetings.  No experience is necessary for membership.  Membership dues are $18 a year.  Please come and share the experience, ideas, techniques and the mutual enjoyment of creating with wood.
The RCWA is a local chapter of the South Dakota Woodworkers Guild.  The RCWA exists for two main reasons: (1) To exchange information that will enhance the enjoyment and skills of woodworking; and (2) To promote woodworking as a hobby, as a profession, or anywhere in between.  This includes promoting woodworking safety, teaching and helping other members, enhancing the quality of life for underprivileged children of the Black Hills by making and distributing wooden toys to charitable organizations in the local area, and supporting community service organizations thru volunteer woodworking activities. 
For more information, contact Bob Buchanan at (605) 348-2865 or Rick Weisbeck at (605) 431-7375.  Or go to our website at www.sdwoodworker.org.
 
To get to the HOME PAGE of the Rapid City Woodworking Association website, click on the link below:
 
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Monday, December 2, 2013

SHORT NOTICE - Slight Change of Plans - Moving up the Toy Move - Dec 2, 2013

We decided to try to beat the cold front that is moving in this week and move the 2001 toys from Rick's shop to the CLUB FOR BOYS on MONDAY, at 5 pm.  We met at Rick's shop at 5 pm on Monday evening Dec 2nd and loaded the toys in trucks and took them down to the CLUB.  With more than 8 vehicles on the scene, we loaded all 120 boxes into two pickup trucks.  Those who couldn't be at Ricks by 5 pm came to help unload at the CLUB for Boys around 6 pm.  We started loading about 4:50 pm, then traveled to the Club for Boys Shop and finished unloading about 6:10 pm!  Thanks for all your help! 

Those at the toy move included:  Rick, Kathie and Bob, Steve and Shirley, Grant, Lon, Julian, Frank,  Lauren, Greg, Gary and Denise, Gary G,  Darwin and Lauree,  and Ken.






Details of the Move

Boxes of toys were being stored in the upper room of Rick's shop.  They needed to be moved down the stairs and out thru the shops to waiting trucks.
 
Rick slid the boxes down the ramp to Kathie.

Kathie passed them off to the bucket brigade to load them in the trucks.
Steve led the charge towards the trucks.


The first truck was loaded and the next one moved into position.

After a harrowing trip to the CLUB for BOYS shop, the unloading began:













 
The next activity will be on Saturday - we will meet at the CLUB for BOYS shop at 9 am and start packing the toys (2,001) for the 18 organizations.
 
To get to the HOME PAGE of the Rapid City Woodworking Association website, click on the link below:
 
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Toy Workshop on Nov 30, 2013 at Rick's Shop

This is the last workshop for the year - we will be packing and delivering toys to children in the Black Hills and Sioux Falls areas next weekend.

The last toys to be completed include Toy Tractors, Turtle Coin Banks, and Doll Cradles.  Attending this workshop were Frank, Steve, Kathie, Bob and Rick.


Kathie is assembling the front and rear wheels on the Tractors.

Steve and Bob prepared the plexi-glass discs for attaching to the turtle banks.

Frank put all the pieces together to makes a dozen reversible/rocking cradles.

Kathie and Steve do the final wheel glue-ons for the 100 Toy Tractors.

Toy Tractors - one of the first toys made by the group in 2008.  Original setups and assembly was perfected by Roger Bares.




To get to the HOME PAGE of the Rapid City Woodworking Association website, click on the link below:
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