CAP Toy Project 2006

The CWC Toy Project for Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) is the capstone of our community service effort to build and donate toys to needy children. In November, the CWC honored one its members by renaming this perennial toy program The Jim Schaefer Toy Project. As background, Jim started the Club's participation in this project in 1988, when members were looking for a way to contribute. He continued to lead the program for about 15 years. Over the years, he and his wife Sylvia have made hundreds of toys and other items for children. Each year, they loaded their van with the donated items from CWC and made the trip to Mt. Vernon, Ky. for delivery. Occasionally, two trips were required. In 2003, he handed the leadership reins to Terry Elfers & John Leonardi to take over stewardship of the project. The club participation and number of items contributed has increased every year. In spite of challenging health problems, Jim, with Sylvia's support, has remained an ardent toy maker and supporter of the project.

All of the toys for this year were delivered to CAP Headquarters on November 12, in Mt. Vernon, KY. They were really thrilled!

Since it’s inception, we have always counted the toys and watched the numbers increase every year. This year we set a new record – nearly 2400! WOW!! It’s really getting difficult to get an accurate count on that many toys and school supply items. For example, if you have a car carrier that consists of a tractor pulling a trailer loaded with 4 autos, should that be counted as 1 toy, 5 toys, or 6? Since this toy is usually only given to one child, we now count it as one.

To illustrate the magnitude of this year’s haul, please realize that in years past we have been able to fit everything into one load until last year (2006) when it took two vehicles. This year we had (4) fully loaded vehicles -- 3 pick-up trucks and a Toyota Highlander.

We want to thank everyone that helped the Cincinnati Woodworking Club to make this happen. Thanks to all who helped us carry the toys down to the basement, and back up to load the trucks. Special thanks to all those individuals who donated their time, effort, and material to enable these children to have a Merry Christmas.

May God bless you,

Terry Elfers John Leonardi

If you'd like more information on how you can contribute, contact Terry or John. See CWC Contacts

Here is a sampling of the 2007 toy donations. Note these are mostly photos of individual toys. In many cases there were dozens of each toy made. Also, there are photos of the toys being unloaded at the CAP warehouse in Mt. Vernon, Ky.