The Woodworkers Club of Tellico Village held its 20th annual Toys for Tots presentation Thursday in the Christian Life Center of the Community Church at Tellico Village, featuring handmade items and an assortment of purchased toys and stuffed animals.
Eighty-one club members made a total of 694 toys this year, which was up from last year’s total of 515 handmade toys.
“It’s good to see things going out to others,” B.J. Pierce, whose husband is one of the toymakers, said. “They’ve been working quite a while.”
Although members were still counting collected toys Thursday evening, Lloyd Donnelly, club president, estimated 600 toys were collected, including 13 bicycles.
“This is the 20th Toys for Tots program,” Donnelly said. “I’m honored to be president of the club because of the fine people we have in the club.
“I think it’s probably a combination of things,” he added for why people continue supporting the program. “Continuation of history, which is a motivating factor, I think. Second, the good cause. Third, we see it as a really good way to further our purpose and that is to expand everyone’s knowledge and skills in woodworking. We tried to encourage this year, for example, to form teams where the more experienced woodworkers reach out to new members of the club or to those who may not be as experienced. That is another reason we do it.”
Members divided into 15 teams before kicking off in August, with 12-15 teams regularly getting involved every year.
“I enjoyed learning from the other guys from what they were doing,” Chuck Kulka said. “That’s why I did it. Only being involved with it for two years, I don’t know as much as they do. It’s a lot of fun to do, too.”
The club provided a $1,000 check to Loudon County Sheriff Tim Guider from donations taken up throughout the year.
“We do work, often for free, and a lot of those people donate money toward the program because they believe it’s so important to the community,” Donnelly said. “We generally use most of it for Toys for Tots.”
Guider expressed his appreciation for the club’s continued generosity.
“It’s heart-wrenching to see the effort and the time that goes into this each year,” Guider said. “It’s a true labor of love, as I mentioned before. You can see it in the videos with the smiles on people’s faces. This is one organization that is second to none in, well, organization. I don’t know what else to say but thank you.”
Donnelly has been involved with the program for 15 years.
“I had four different people I hadn’t worked with on my team,” he said. “Getting to know them and getting to know of their different abilities. ... That’s the fun part of it to me. The end product is always in mind, and when you’re done, you’re proud of what you did.”
In addition to the Toys for Toys program, club members participate in 25-30 projects in the community, including nonprofit and private woodworking requests such as repairing the column on a Victorian home.
“This year we’ve done 42 and are still finishing the last ones,” Donnelly said.
