Article from the December 13, 2010 Washtenaw Voice
Staff Writer: Drew Brodie
The Washtenaw Voice
Bud Jingsbury, 79 (left), and owner Jim Bennett, 75, discuss supplies at their Bennett’s Beavers workshop in Hamburg.
The old fire hall in Hamburg Township is painted brightly in red and white. Inside, 20 volunteers are hard at work making wooden toys for the holiday season. A thin coat of sawdust covers the floor like a fresh blanket of snow… On one end of the room, saws are carving out specially designed shapes. On the other, men sand the shapes down to a finished product. This is just another Tuesday at “Bennett’s Beavers,” who make between 25,000–30,000 wooden toys a year. Indeed, one of Santa’s favorite workshops is right here in our own backyard. But the “elves” inside are not making toys for all the little girls and boys. Rather, they craft toys for children at hospitals all around the country. “What they do is amazing,” said Dan Fisher at Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. “Bennett’s Beavers are a shining example of community involvement and support.” The hospital goes through “several thousand” wooden toys a year, he added. The toys are of various designs, shapes and even cartoon characters, like Sponge Bob or Blue of Blue’s Clues. Each toy arrives as a blank wooden block that children are allowed to paint and turn into whatever piece of art they see fit.
“The overall goal is to reduce stress, and the shapes are an extension that allows the kids to forget that they’re in the hospital,” said Deanna Scanlon, child life projects specialist with the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “They’re bursting at the seams when we have the wood crafts out,” Fisher said.
Dan Kempf (front), 66, and John Shanks, 63, work on their pieces before sending them to the sander to be finished.
SMALL BEGINNINGS
Bennett’s Beavers began in 1995 when founder Jim Bennett, 75, of Hamburg Township was asked by his sister Margaret to make some wooden cars for the sick kids at Mott’s, where she was volunteering. He made her a sack full of toys, and they were an immediate hit. “Woodworking has been a hobby of mine, not toys in particular, but I’ve enjoyed wood working my whole life,” Bennett said. So much so that Margaret came back the next week and asked him to make more. Once again, Bennett obliged, and soon he was making bags full of cats, dogs, bunnies and more. In fact, he was making so many toys that he soon ran out of wood, and could no longer make them. At least until an old friend of Bennett’s started bringing him scrap wood from job sites. And Bennett’s workshop was back in business. Then he began recruiting volunteers to help him meet the demand. He and his crew have now been creating the wooden toys out of his garage for the last 14 years. Eventually, finding a supply of wood large enough to fill the needs again became an issue. As did raising money to help pay for all the equipment needed. So a family friend of Bennett held a golf outing to help raise funds. But the demand just kept growing. Other hospitals were asking for the toys as well — and Bennett couldn’t help himself. “I never learned how to say no,” he jokes.
A few of the Bennett’s Beavers volunteers tinker away in their Hamburg workplace.
GETTING BIGGER
What had begun with one hospital has now become a year-round project that provides toys to 14 hospitals from Ann Arbor to Tennessee. Bennett now has 20 volunteers who meet every Tuesday in the old fire hall to turn out toys. The wood is donated from Doors & Drawers in Dexter, and from Comins Lumber Sales Inc. in Comins. No one is paid for their work. The township leases the building to Bennett’s Beavers, for a dollar a month.
Bennett and his volunteers stay busy. There is always another order that needs to be finished. Whether it’s meeting the needs of hospitals that have run out, or building special holiday-themed toys, Bennett estimates that on a good day, he and his group create and finish 1,000 pieces.
THE KIDS AND THEIR FAMILIES
Every other month, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan receives three or four boxes full of wooden toys from the Beavers. And they do not last long. “We never have extras,” said Scanlon. “But they (the Beavers) always come through and deliver us more toys when we need them.” Sometimes the Beavers are called upon to make something other than toys. Bennett was asked to make an “art cart” so that kids who were confined to their beds or were not able to go be with other children would have a way to enjoy the arts and crafts. Once again, Bennett couldn’t say no. “I’ve never had Jim say no,” Fisher said. “They do it all with pleasure whenever we have a special request.” One special request was for a board that could sit in the lap of a little girl who was confined to her bed. The board rested comfortably so she could paint all day long. She was paralyzed from the neck down and used her mouth to hold the paint brush. “It’s truly amazing, the impact that something so small makes on the kids,” said Scanlon The little toys can mean more to the parents than to the kids at times. “The parents of those kids are so excited to see their child happy for once,” Fisher said. Scanlon backed that statement. “They’re truly touching these families, more than they will ever know,” he said. As for the future of Bennett’s Beavers. . . Jim Bennett is well aware of his own mortality, and he has a plan in place. Should anything happen to him, one of his volunteers has already stepped up to continue filling the needs of the hospitals — and putting smiles on the faces of thousands of sick children.