Welcome to Trinity’s most creative ministries! As the name implies, Trinity Toymakers make toys. Primarily we are a woodworking group, constructing wooden toys from start to finish–cutting, sanding, painting, gluing – many of those tasks get done twice! Toymaking is labor-intensive, and we need laborers of all skill levels. While experienced woodworkers are most needed at the beginning of the project for handling the power tools, there is always work for unskilled hands, from tracing patterns to painting wheels.
We also need Toymakers who can sew to make the dolls and bedding required by the cradles. While individual Toymakers may work on other days, our general workdays are on Saturday mornings in the fall. We work at the Fallbrook workshop of head Toymaker Joe Stanford. To get directions and times, use the contact information below.
After all this work, where do our toys go? We bless our toys just before Christmas and then deliver them to local agencies who are collecting toys for Christmas. In recent years our toys have been distributed through Interfaith Community Services, the Polinski Center in San Diego (for foster children), New Alternatives Foster Care, Salvation Army, Dorcas House (an Episcopal ministry in Tijuana), and various military
family organizations.
Now, you may think–what is the point of all that work? After all, toys can and are easily bought and donated to these same charities. Not wooden toys, of course, you won’t find them at in the mall. Toys like ours can be purchased in high-end toy boutiques. The children who receive our toys are not the ones who would be shopping in such places, obviously. We hope that the unique quality and beauty of our toys offer a glimpse into another world. Not the world of wealth represented by the exclusive toy store, but a world of personal creativity and accomplishment. These toys are special, and that is the gift we hope to offer.
Contact:
Joe Stanford (760-728-8499)
trinitytoymakers@trinityescondido.org
Check out 2016 Toys: 300+!
