#22 - March, 2003

Progress/Changes
Some people say they don't mind profess as long as it doesn't change anything.  That's about the way I feel.  Because of the progress of The Happy Factory, it looks like some changes are necessary.
About four years ago Dave Grant, President of MTI, and I met.  He was interested in The Happy Factory and asked what our plans for the future were.  I told him that we someday needed to move to a larger facility in town because we had out grown our shop that was in our garage an we were too far from town.  He said, "We just bought the Coleman building, would you like to move in there?"  My chin dropped to the floor in disbelief.  They donated the space, rewired it to accommodate our equipment, put in lights and the telephone and there was the new Happy Factory.
Because of the generous offer, The Happy Factory began to grow and now has twenty-one branches and has produced more than 220,000 toys that have been sent to children all over the world.
Whoever designed that building didn't know about The Happy Factory, and the demand for service groups and management requirements has made it necessary that we make some changes.
The Board of Trustees has determined that the best way to accommodate our growing needs it to build our own building.
This new building will be 40' X 80' (3200 square feet.) It is pre-engineered steel truss building that will be fully insulated, have a fire sprinkler system, rest rooms, an office, air conditioning and an outside dust collector system.  The parking will be black top and the front of the lot will be landscaped.  It will be a first class facility that will be able to accommodate up to 50 people for service projects.  It will be located in the Coal Creek Industrial Park off the Airport road.  The estimated cost will be $106,500.  We are a tax-exempt company and donations are tax deductible.
We are setting up a fund raising committee and welcome all donations for the building.  Checks should be made out to The Happy Factory Facilities Fund and sent to The Happy Factory, P.O. Box 811, Cedar City, UT 84721.
Again, thanks to Dave Grant and MTI for making this all possible.  Dave Grant told me the other day that progress requires changes and he and MTI will always support The Happy Factory in every way they can.

New Branches
We want to welcome two new branches to The Happy Factory Family.

Humbling Experience
A few weeks ago Garry Flake and his wife stopped in to The Happy Factory. (Garry Flake ahs been the Director of the Humanitarian Department of the LDS Church and is now Director of Emergency Response of the Humanitarian Department of the LDS Church.)  They had been invited to Cedar City to give a talk to the Rotary International luncheon.  He said that on the way down, this thought occurred to him "One of the best examples of Humanitarian service in the WORLD is right here among us.  It's called The Happy Factory."
When you think about it he's probably right.  For example, last year, The Happy Factory (that's ALL BRANCHES) produced 62,189 toys and 207 steam shovels.  That represents 25,102 service hours.  Thanks to the thousands of people who donated time, money or material representing the tens of thousand of service hours to provide the hundreds of thousand of toys for children.

Special Story
This story was shared with The Happy Factory.  Missionary couple in Moldova:

I need to tell you about our first experience with the wooden toys from The Happy Factory.  We didn't know until last spring that such things were even available.  However, when the first container arrived in Moldova, it was medical supplies, and unbeknownst to either of us, there were some children's clothes, school kits, and wooden toys that had been include din the container, even though they hadn't been ordered.  Our consignee took us to the long-term pediatric orthopedic section of the Republican hospital so that we could be there when the children received the things.  The parents of the children had dressed them in their best and were waiting, eagerly, when we arrived.  The children were absolutely quiet as they looked into the box and chose their toys.  The mothers, as you would imagine, were all smiles.  The nurses told us that that was the only time when anyone had brought things for the children.
If you could see the star, barren halls and walls of that hospital, you would realize how much those things were appreciated.  My husband went into a room to shake hands with the two children who were playing with their toys.  Not being quite as friendly and gregarious as my husband, I stayed in the hall.  But I saw the looks on the faces of those children as he approached.  They were only five or six years old, but I knew that they thought he was coming to take the toys back.  Instead, of course, he smiled, shook hands, and waved goodbye, and as he walked away, I saw the children relax and wave and go back to their toys.  It was a very touching experience and The Happy Factory needs to know how much those things mean to the children who have nothing.
We want to tank all of you who participate for realizing that it is not our responsibility to make our children worthy of the World, rather to make the World worthy of our children.

Motto: We may not be able to make a toy for every child in the world who needs one, but we're going to try.