Toys for Charity
This past year I joined two local woodworking clubs. One club has been making and donating toys to local charities for over 20 years. The other club is doing it this year for the first time. The primary effort supports Christmas, but donations are also made to the Red Cross and local Sheriff’s Department, where the toys are used year round to calm children who have just been through a traumatic experience.
Both clubs were very interested in my ShopBot and after demonstrating it, we decided on what parts and pieces I could make to help the toy effort.
The most popular toy for little girls has been a cradle, provided with a purchased blanket and teddy bear. The ends were being cut on a band saw, which was very time consuming. So my first assignment was to design a simple cradle design and cut out enough ends for 160 cradles. Attached pictures show various stages of construction and the cradles are done! The ends were cut from ¾” veneer core plywood and the sides and bottoms from ½” plywood. Almost all the material was either donated by local businesses or purchased through them at cost. We did use some prefinished plywood this year, but generally the toys are not painted or finished because of liability issues.
Other parts I made were small animal outlines for a carousel toy, and a “yoke” and wheels for a small wooden wagon. Other members make cars, trucks, puzzles, etc.
All the design work was accomplished using VCarve Pro, which as always was a pleasure to use. The preview feature was very helpful to finalize designs via email.
This has been a very rewarding experience, and I would encourage anyone interested to look into doing the same.
Tim
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