The Bike Room

The Distribution Area

The Stuffed Animal Room

Toys for Tots

Where we live Toys for Tots runs a bit different than the one we're used to. My guess is that it predates the Marine charity, ours is 1924 or such, and that is probably the only reason they are still able to call it that.

Here, they work year round accepting, repairing, cleaning and assembling used toys. We dropped a car load off this morning while the kids were at school and couldn't freak out that we were taking their toys away, and got a chance to take a tour of the place. It was amazing, truly like Santa's workshop should be.

There were different departments such as:
the electronics department where they fix remote control cars, trucks and games;
the doll department where dolls are washed and dressed in clean clothes;
the bike department where hundreds and hundreds of bikes are repaired and inspected;
the books department where volunteers go through each and every page to make sure they are all intact and without any unacceptable drawings or words that children shouldn't see;
the woodshop where old dollhouses, rocking horses and wagons get a new life,
the puzzle department where volunteers painstakingly put together puzzles with up to 1,000 pieces to make sure all are there;
the game area where all games are meticulously sorted to make sure every piece is intact down to the dice;
the barbie room had hundreds of tiny bins sorting tiny barbie pieces such as shoes, purses and accessories;
the stuffed animal department where washing machines are cleaning them continuously;
the plastic toy area and it literally goes on and on.

It was overwhelming. And such an awesome sight to witness. I love the idea of recycling old toys and giving them new life and keeping stuff out of landfills. Shoot, some of the retro toys there would make a fortune on Ebay - I would buy them. Keith is going to start volunteering a few hours a month in the bike or electronics department next year. He'll start hanging out with all of the retirees and probably grow a fondness for Jack Benny and plain bread with peas.

And with that, the Christmas spirit is hitting me! Off to get stuff done...