December 2011

Sawdust & Shavings

100,000 Toys Milestone: Our 100,000 Toy Celebration was attended by our volunteers, friends, family, and supporters, all those without whom we would never have achieved this goal.  Back five years ago, we thought 500 cars a year was an ambitious goal.  As for 100,000 toys? That wasn't even imaginable!

Gifts for Grown-Ups: Need a last minute gift or gift for the person that has everything? Maybe a stocking stuffer? We have a new product, a Toys 4 Smiles business card holder. It's a unique conversation piece.  And we can even personalize the card holder. Just email us the information.  What a perfect holiday gift for the adult child in your life or for your business clients!  The standard card holder is $10, $25 for personalized.  Gifts will be available for pick up at the shop.

Select Style

Standard $10.00 USD Personalized $25.00 USD

Toy Stories: To end on an upbeat note, here's a wonderful Toys 4 Smiles story from Jayme Hammond, parent of a young child who received Toys 4 Smiles cars last year.

“In February, my 9-month old son was a patient at the UMC Burn Care center.  It was without a doubt, the worst day for my little family. The staff at the UMC Burn Center were wonderful trying to make a horrible situation a little better for my husband and me.  What made the situation a little better for my son were the Toys 4 Smiles cars the staff were able to give to him. They were nicely made and had no small pieces, which was perfect for my baby.  He loved them… and 7-months later the Toys 4 Smiles cars are still his go-to toys in the morning. Thank you for providing them to the UMC Burn Center. Having a child at the hospital is such a difficult experience but little toys like the ones you provide give a real comfort at a much needed time. Thank you so much!!!” 

Need a Tax Break?

Make a year-end gift to ‘Toys 4 Smiles’ before Dec. 31 and receive a ‘501(c)(3)’ charitable tax deduction for 2011. Think about a recurring donation.  To learn more contact me at 702.218.4582 or go to: toys4smileslv@cox.net

Growing Community Awareness of Toys 4 Smiles

Toys 4 Smiles is increasing our name recognition in the Las Vegas community.

Awareness is growing throughout the education system.  Desert Oasis High School has started a chapter of Toys 4 Smiles, where high school students are now making toys for needy children.   Helen J. Stewart School students come to the Toy Shop twice a month and oil toys for us.  The Toy Shop has also had visits from a number of high school clubs, such as the Clark High School Key Club and Liberty High School Honor Society.  This helps spread the word among the high schools about what we do.  On the college level, the Circle K groups from UNLV, CSN and Nevada State College continue to be supporters of ours. Toys 4 Smiles is a great way for kids to help kids in our community.

Awareness is growing throughout the service community.  Toys 4 Smiles volunteer, Officer Mark Miller, Clark County School District Police Department, was honored by the Southern Nevada Rotary Clubs at the 10th Annual Safety Officer Award Recognition (SOAR) for his long term exceptional service to the community through the Toys 4 Smiles Program.  Rex Doty was honored by the Summerlin Lions Club with the 2010 Jefferson Award for Community Service.

Awareness is growing throughout the community as a whole.  Do you know we have a booth at the popular new Farmers Market at Tivoli Village on Saturday mornings? What a great way to get the word out about what we do! And since we sell toys, it's a great fundraising opportunity for us as well.  Random Acts of Kindness (AOK) held a meet-up at the Toy Shop. One of the departments at MGM Resorts came by to help. On a regular basis, the clients of The Blind Center also help apply the mineral oil finish to our toys. Toys 4 Smiles is a way for people to help kids in our community.

Yes, awareness of Toys 4 Smiles is definitely growing throughout the community: in the schools at all levels, among the service clubs, and in the community as a whole.  Increased awareness means increased support, both financial and in terms of volunteers.  We look forward to another year of growth.

Our Needs

Fundraising and donations continue to be an ongoing concern. Right now, we have two big needs:  financing, of course, and wood.

This past July we almost lost our work space, The Toy Shop. Fortunately we were able to raise over $7,000 to keep our doors open. Still, we could do so much more in our own temperature controlled building.  If you know of anyone who might be willing to give us space, please contact us.  In this tough real estate market, the charitable donation of currently un-rentable space would bring a tax deduction at the very least. We'd be looking for at least a five year commitment. 

We've also lost a most generous corporate donor of all our wood, Masterbrand Cabinets, which had to close its doors in Las Vegas in December.  Our hearts go out to everyone at Masterbrand, who have been so generous to us over the years.  Now we really need a new source of hardwood scraps.  If anyone has a contact we can follow up with, please let us know.

On a positive note, in November, we participated in the first Nevada’s Big Give, 24 hours of online fundraising.  The more people who know about us, the better we'll do fundraising next year.

Thank you for your help and support,

Rex Doty
and all the volunteers at Toys4Smiles

Have a merry Christmas and happy and healthy New Year!

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Mailing Address

Shop Location

2251 N. Rampart Blvd.
Box 172
Las Vegas, NV 89128


E-mail: info@toys4smileslasvegas.org