FALLBROOK, Calif. - For the past nine years a Fallbrook man has been crafting wooden toys for needy children, organizing his church group to make hundreds of toys every year.
Joe Stanford and about 30 volunteers from the Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido made toy cars, cradles, figurines and a number of other play things from Stanford's wood workshop based out of his home.
"There's so much plastic in our world and things that whistle and run on batteries," Stanford said. "The touch of wood and the smoothness and the beauty, it's the old-fashioned way but we feel like that's important in a child's life. It may not be, but we like to think it is."
Before retiring, Stanford was a music professor at Palomar College for nearly 40 years. While there, he began attending wood-working classes about 25 years ago.
Stanford said that the toy-making process actually begins in early September and that he and his church group make between 200 and 500 toys every year.
"We feel like our toys are special because we put a lot of love into them," Stanford said. "They are made well enough to be heirlooms that the kids can pass on to their children. That thought makes me feel good."
