Toy Packing Day 12-5-2020

It's time to be checking your lists . . .

Today, twenty members of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association gathered at the Club for Boys in Rapid City to fill Christmas wooden toy "pick lists" for twenty-some organizations throughout South Dakota and Nebraska who work with kids.

Jerry Hood and Rick Weisbeck lead the packing and distribution of the toys today.

This morning at 8:30 am, several members met at the inventory storage location to once again, move the toys; this time to the Club for Boys for the purpose of filling pick lists for all toy organizations receiving the handmade wooden toys for Christmas giving.  Also at 8:30 am this morning, other members met at the Club for Boys to setup the area for staging, sorting, filling and packaging boxes of toys for each organization.  As boxes were moved into the staging area, toys were sorted and placed on tables in preparation for filling pre-assigned pick lists.

Without the luxury of meeting at the Shop at the Club for Boys, making toys as a group was a major challenge.  All the wooden toys that were made for Christmas giving were made in individual shops and garages.  As toys were completed, they were moved to a central shop for sealing and finishing.  Two members performed the tasks of installing wheels and axles in their apartments or garage shops.  When the toys were done, they were inventoried, packaged, and moved to our inventory storage location.  We completed over 2,200 toys this year.  Here is a sample of the toys completed.

By 11 am today, all toys were packaged, labeled, sorted, and ready for distribution.  Toys were loaded into Gary Graves' vehicle for traveling to Sioux Falls and then to northern Nebraska.  Toys were loaded into Rick Weisbeck's vehicle for the Ellsworth Air Force base organizations.  Toys for WAVI were also loaded into Rick Weisbeck's vehicle.  Toys were loaded into Jerry Hood's and Ken Maron's vehicles for Connie Olson at the Youth and Family Services on Plaza Drive.  Toys were loaded into Al Oines vehicle for the HOPE Center.  Prior to today, Ed Pike loaded toys for the Cornerstone Apartments.  Julie from the Cheyenne River Youth Project arrived after lunch to take toys to Eagle Butte.  Black Hills Habitat for Humanity will receive their boxes next week.  Toys were loaded into Bel Felix's vehicle for the State Veteran's Home in Hot Springs.  Toys for the SD National Guard for 2021 were  loaded into Tony Verichio's vehicle.

Many thanks to Jerry and Patsy Hood and Rick Weisbeck for making every thing run smoothly today.  Thanks to Kathie Buchanan for making cookies and scones for Refreshments, and Patsy for the coffee.  And thanks to all the members who set aside time all year to build and finish the toys, and for your loyal support today on this Toy Packing Day 2020!

For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.

RCWA