Toys for Tots
The Toys-For-Tots program goes to the heart of the Tellico Village Woodworkers. This annual Toys-For-Tots event was started in 1998. Each December members present to the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office toys made by individuals or teams of woodworkers.
In the years since the Loudon County Sheriff’s / Tellico Village Woodworker’s Toys-For-Tots program has been conducted, the Tellico Village Woodworkers Club members have built and donated more than 9,000 wooden toys.
Bead of Courage
The Program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness. Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path.
Requests for Services
The club receives a wide variety of requests for its services. For management purposes, it has divided them into three categories: Community Service Project Requests, Contract Service Requests, and, Requests for Donations to Fundraisers. All three are described below. Community Service Projects are considered to be “club” projects because members doing this work represent the club and club management is most often involved. On the other hand, Contract Service Requests and Requests for Donations to Fundraisers are not considered to be “club” projects, because members participate as individuals, representing themselves, with no club involvement beyond publicizing the request.
Community Service Project Requests
The club receives many requests for woodworking projects from individuals and organizations in the area, e.g., requests for furniture repair, tables, shelving, signs, birdhouses, lecterns, cutouts, and wheelchair ramps. Many requests are from churches and charitable organizations. These requests are often charitable in nature and are undertaken because the club’s unique knowledge, skills, and abilities can be employed to do work that would otherwise be either impossible or difficult for the requester to do. These requests are made known to club members using tvwoodworkers.com and in most cases one or more club members will volunteer to do the project, charging neither for their labor nor the use of their equipment or supplies. The requester frequently buys the material, but sometimes either the club or the club member doing the work donates it. Club officers will sometimes get involved in coordinating large projects. The club vice president reports on the status of community service projects at both Board Meetings and General Meetings.
Contract Service Requests
The club also receives requests, mostly from individuals, where the requester is looking to hire a club member to do a woodworking project. These requests are advertised on tvwoodworkers.com and any member interested in taking on the project is put in touch with the requester. At this point, the club has no further involvement in the project and keeps no records of it. Assuming there is interest, the club member and the requester come to terms on the project’s composition and costs.
Requests for Donations to a Fundraiser
The club also receives requests to donate handcrafted items to organizations that plan to sell them to raise funds. These requests are advertised on tvwoodworkers.com. The advertisement will identify the requester’s contact information. Members choosing to donate will make their own make arrangements to get their donations to the requester. The club vice president will inform the requester that the request has been advertised and that they will be contacted by any member choosing to donate, not the club. At this point, the club has no further involvement in the donations and keeps no record of donations made.