As we talked about at the General Meeting, there will be a Scrollsaw Special Interest Group meeting this month at Rick's Shop. It is tomorrow Thursday Dec 16, 2021, at 7 pm. Last month, we made kazoo's! Come see what we are doing this month. Hope to see you there! Rick
Friday, December 17, 2021
Toy Deliveries are Complete 12-17 -2021
News Flash: All toys for 2021 have been delivered as of today! Thank you all for your extraordinary efforts making over 3,400 toys this year! Bob and Rick
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News from Leslie (Gary Graves' sister) from Beatrice, Nebraska. 12-17-2021
Leslie delivered 617 toys to schools today. She said the school administrators were very thankful and appreciative. Some helped carry the boxes in. They said the kids will be elated! Another 40 something went to a therapist who meets with home bound students in their homes.
Lots of happy kids!!
[Which also means lots of happy toys!!!]
News from Pawnee City Schools in Nebraska:
Pawnee City Schools Receive Wooden Toys
Thank You's from YFS:
Note from Sue Jorgensen
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Cards from the Critters Class:
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Cards from the Bug Class
THANK YOU FROM THE CLUB FOR BOYS:
For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Christmas Family Potluck 12-11-2021
Twenty-one members of the RCWA traveled to the Nemo Community Center in Nemo, SD, on Saturday for our annual Christmas Family Potluck luncheon. Hosts Patsy and Jerry setup tables, chairs and the tree for the event. Patsy, Kathie, Rick and Cori put on table cloths and decorated the tables. Grant made his outdoor smoked turkey, a treat we look forward to each year. Patsy and Jerry served a mighty fine ham for the other main dish. We started our luncheon about 11:30 am.
Attending: Al, Mary G, Patsy, Jerry, Kathie, Bob, Grant, Mary, Tony, Karey, Vicky, Lon, Lauree, Darwin, Rick, Cori, Julian, Lois, Maggie, Jim, and John.
Lots of great salads, breads, and desserts filled out the really enjoyable luncheon.
We started the meal with Julian giving thanks for all the blessings of the past year, followed by lots of eating and visiting.
After lunch, Bob gave a brief "speech" thanking everyone for all their efforts during the year in our toy making endeavors. He shared some tidbits about how many toys were given away and to whom. Then he shared his latest time per toy calculations. He passed on sharing the cookies per toy ratio for the year as it is pretty much pie in the sky type calculations, even though based on many good memories.
The road to Nemo was plowed with snow pack in several spots, but the gathering concluded by 2:30 pm and everyone was home long before dark. Thanks Patsy and Jerry for hosting and making the event very enjoyable. Thanks to all attending as well.
(And we didn't have to share the venue with the Jr Hi school band concert!)
For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Toy Packing and Distribution Day 12-4-2021
Toy Packing and Distribution Day was the big event for Dec 4, 2021. This year, it was held in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church at 910 Wood Ave in Rapid City starting at 8 am going thru noon. Over 32 members and friends of the Rapid City Woodworkers Association (RCWA) attended this event.
Notes from Packing and Distribution Day
8 am: Started set up of all toys at TOY STATIONS, moving from the Storeroom. This year we weren't dependent on weather for moving toys from the Black Hawk storage area to a Toy Distribution area, as we are now in one central location in the basement of the annex to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. The job was much simpler this year.
8:45 am: Photo Shoot of "one of each toy" before toy picking began.
9 am: Started toy picks (#1 thru #29) in pre-planned order, designed to alleviate bottlenecks and facilitate smooth packing/shipping area traffic flow.
Special expediters/assistants were stationed at Toys 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, and 20. These toys required an educated mixing of toys as there were multiple types of toys in a single category. Jerry prepped each cart with empty boxes to keep the carts moving.
Bob regulated the cart flow with discretionary Toy Pick distribution. Patsy filled out labels for the extra boxes for each organization. Bel recorded the number of boxes packed. For 2021, we packed up 140 boxes.
Rick, Harley, and Mary G packed and taped the boxes; Grant and Ken moved the boxes to the holding area. Everyone else was either a picker or a special assistant on the toy picking line.
10:45 am: Finished filling toy pick lists for 29 locations/organizations.
11:30 am: Finished loading all boxes of toys to appropriate vehicles for delivery.
Details of Toy Deliveries
Toys for Youth Groups in Irwin, PA were loaded into Jerry's vehicle by 10 am.
Toys (Love Bugs) for the Black Hills Chaplains Association were loaded into Jim Brown's truck next.
Toys for YFS were packed and staged in the south classroom before loading into vehicles for delivery to the Plaza Drive YFS facility. Toys were delivered by Ken, Al, Cori, and Rick.
Al O. loaded toys into his vehicle to deliver to the The Hope Center on Monday.
Toys were loaded directly into Gary Graves' shiny red truck, which will be leaving for Sioux Falls / Beatrice, NE at 11:30 am.
Ed Pike picked up toys for Cornerstone Apartments.
Crystal Lind (Cheyenne River Youth Project in Eagle Butte) arrived at 11:30 am. Toys were loaded into her vehicle for the trip back to Eagle Butte.
Cheyenne River Youth Project story
We loaded YFS toys into Ken's truck and Cori's vehicle by 11:30 am. They met Susan Jorgenson at YFS - Plaza Drive, and unloaded their toys at the lobby of YFS at 11:45 am. There will be no in-person deliveries to YFS this year. Teachers will pick up their toys from the lobby on Monday. Click here for a photos by YFS about the Toy Delivery to YFS.
Bob, Grant and Jerry dropped off toys at the Shop at the Club for Boys at 12:00 noon.
We loaded toys into Rick's truck for EAFB Airmen and Family Readiness Center, EAFB Youth Programs and WAVI. Rick will deliver on Monday.
Tony loaded toys into his vehicle for delivery to the SD National Guard by 11 am.
Toys to be delivered by Frank were loaded into Bob's vehicle for pickup next week. This included toys for the BH Pregnancy Center, and Foster Parent Association of the Northern Hills. We also loaded toys for Kinship Ministries into Bob's vehicle.
Toys for a mid-year delivery to WAVI in June 2022 will be stored in the WOOD Shop.
Toys for Our Redeemer Lutheran Church programs are ready in the WOOD Shop.
Approximately 2900 toys were packaged and distributed today to 29 locations / organizations.
Photos from the event:
The ceremonial last box!
Year Toys
2008 400
2009 1,260
2010 1,430
2011 1,620
2012 2,001
2013 2,316
2014 2,519
2015 2,804
2016 3,144
2017 3,397
2018 4,053
2019 4,427
2020 2,942
2021 3,509
35,822 total toys given away to date
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TOY PROGRAM ACTUALS FOR 2021
The total number planned for 2021 giving was: 2,695
Toy Inventory Totals on Dec 5, 2021: 3,405
Total number of Toys Packed and Distributed on Dec 5, 2021: 2,894
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Photos from YFS Delivery (photos courtesy of YFS)
Youth & Family Services
Dec 10, 2021
This past week we were able to distribute several hundred beautiful, handmade wooden toys to children enrolled in several of our programs thanks to the Rapid City Woodworkers! We are so thankful for these toys each year, and absolutely LOVE watching the kids play.
Also, thanks to the Boys Scout Council for allowing us to borrow a car track so the kiddos could really watch their race cars go!
For more information, go to www.rapidcitywoodworkers.com.
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