Story and photos by Larry Vogel

Did you know that Santa’s workshop has a branch in Edmonds, specializing in providing a festive holiday for children of local families in need?

Each holiday season for the past 30 years, the Edmonds Food Bank Toy Shop takes over the Edmonds United Methodist Church fellowship hall, where an army of volunteers fills the room with a cornucopia of new and like-new toys.

But you don’t need money at this toy shop. Everything is free to needy families.

Toys are collected all year from a wide array of sources, including local churches, the Edmonds Daybreakers, Alderwood and Edmonds Rotaries, giving trees at Alderwood Mall, Annie’s Community Kitchen, the Lynnwood QFC, the Edmonds Center for the Arts, and others too numerous to mention. The toys are sorted and prepared by volunteers, and given away to families in need during a festive holiday toy shop event.

This year it all culminated on Saturday morning when more than 300 parents visited the Toy Shop to choose gifts that they will take home, wrap and give to their children as if the gifts came from them.

“The kids get the gift, the parents get to give it and we get the satisfaction of spreading holiday joy to our neighbors in need,” said Pamela Frank, who along with colleagues Jenn Hendrix and Mary VanEss have spearheaded the Toy Shop project for the past three years

“We could never do this without amazing support from our community,” she said. “And donations are just part of it. We have more than 100 volunteers who give of their time all year long to help provide a joyous holiday to children who might otherwise have to do without.”

While most families connect with the Toy Shop through the Food Bank, it is open to all who are in need. To help ensure the widest possible reach, volunteer interpreters are kept busy helping non-English speaking families find the right gifts for their children.

Volunteer Kevin Mullany oversees the bicycles, a role he’s been playing for the past nine years. He collects bikes all year mostly through donations, and is constantly at work restoring them. “I ensure that all the bikes we give away are mechanically sound and have the proper reflectors and other safety equipment,” he said. Mullany personally details each bike, polishing and waxing the frame until it sparkles.

That sparkle showed in his eyes, and the eyes of all the Toy Shop volunteers on Saturday morning, as they sent the joy of the holiday season spilling out the doors and into our community. Mullany summed it up, capturing what was in the heart of all the volunteers that morning. “A bike under the tree is something every kid should experience at some time in their lives,” he said. “My only regret is that I can’t be there to see the look on their faces.”