Charity group turns out its 50,000th toy

The Happy Factory trades in wooden cars for smiles

View file photoVolunteer Bob Roeben stands near a box of toy parts built from donated lumber at The Happy Factory Las Vegas woodshop, March 13. The group recently created its 50,000th toy to donate to local charities. Volunteers currently work out of the garage of a private home. Advertisement

The Happy Factory Las Vegas is happy indeed. It recently made its 50,000th toy.

It crafts simple wooden cars and trucks from donated wood and gives them away. The nonprofit organization's toys are handed out at schools and hospitals and given to organizations such as Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and the Salvation Army to distribute.

"We're not in the business of making toys," said Rex Doty, founder of The Happy Factory Las Vegas and a Sun City Summerlin resident. "We're in the business of making smiles."

The 50,000th toy was branded with the distinction and was included in a batch sent to the Clark County School District Police Department to be distributed as it saw fit.

The group consists solely of volunteers. Likewise, the wood used for making cars is all donated scrap wood that otherwise would have been wasted.

Wheels and axel pegs have to be bought, making the cost for each toy about 49 cents.

Another nonprofit group, the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation, gives children shoes and socks. Last fall, Nikki Berti, founder, added Happy Factory toys to the items that her group distributes.

"We're always looking for ways to supplement our program, and their toys are so great," she said. "The kids really enjoy getting them."

The toys may not have bells and whistles, but the children who receive them don't seem to care.

Clark County School District police officer Mark Miller has handed out 10,000 of the toys to at-risk students.

"The kids act like it's the neatest thing that's ever happened to them," he said. "They get all excited."

He said handing out the toys affects how the police are perceived.

"Some of them will go, 'You arrested my mommy' or 'You arrested my daddy,' " he said. "Hopefully, this lets them see us in a different way."

His chief, Phil Arroyo, said most people don't realize that the children who receive the toys often get their only meal of the day by attending school.

"These are kids who have nothing," he said. "I mean, nothing."

The Happy Factory Las Vegas was founded three years ago. For all its work, the organization has no permanent base. Instead, the group uses numerous people's garages.

Currently, it can make 2,000 toy vehicles a month. For 2009, its records show that it delivered 24,551 toys.

The Happy Factory Las Vegas is looking for a location to be donated so it can make even more toys. It needs 2,000 to 3,000 square feet of space in an area zoned for nighttime use, as working people donate their time in the evening and the work necessitates using power tools.

"If I was wealthy and you asked me to support this, you'd have a place in a heartbeat," Doty said. "It's just a matter of reaching those people who have the resources."

For more information or to contact the group, visit www.happyfactorylasvegas.org, call 363-8916 or e-mail info@happy factorylasvegas.org.

Contact Summerlin and Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.