Sometimes living in this land of plenty, we forget forget those
who live in the land of nothing - especially the little children. Charles
and Donna Cooley have not forgotten. This is Charles' story of how the
Happy Factory came to be:
"We're so grateful we've been given this opportunity to serve
the little children."
Happy Factory?
We didn't start out to be The Happy Factory. In fact, we didn't start
out to be anything. We started out to make a couple of lawn ornaments.
Then we found some toy patterns and made toys for all the neighborhood
kids... and we just keep making toys.
We had a stockpile of about 150 toys at a time when we had to make
a trip to Salt Lake City. Donna served in our church as stake Relief
Society president [a group of women in the LDS church dedicated
to service] and wanted to stop by the Primary Children's Medical
Center to get some ideas for quilts. I suggested we take the toys
up to see if they could use them. Because of liability and other reasons
we weren't even sure if they would take them.
We took one box in and the front desk directed us to the foundation
where we met a very nice lady (Marie Hendrickson.) She asked if she
could help us. We said we had some toys and wondered if they could
use them. She said let's see and opened the box and said "Oh
MY! We could certainly use them. Thank you very much."
I said do you have a cart? We have four more boxes down in the car.
She said yes, we'll find a cart. we went down to the parking lot and
loaded the other boxed and turned in to get in the car to leave and
Marie said, "just a minute," and turned around. There were
tears running down her cheeks and she said, "I've have got to
have a hug." Every time we went back to deliver toys the staff
would come out of their offices and even the woodwork and give us
a hug. I told Donna I think we get more hugs here than we do at a
family reunion; and she said "yes, and I think they're more sincere."
I think we made the commitment on that first hug that we were going
to make toys for children in our retirement.
We'll Make Toys!
Then we heard about the Shriner's Hospital and found that they needed
toys. About this time Donna heard about the Sort Center (a humanitarian
center) and said the next time we went to Salt Lake City, she would
like to get some guidelines for Relief Society projects.
So, we went to Salt Lake and visited the sort center. We met a man
in the lobby, his name was Robert Workman. We explained why we were
there. He asked if we had ever been there before and if we'd like
to take a tour. We were so amazed at the size of that vast complex
and all the clothing and quilts and books and medical equipment. We
ended up on the second floor and I noticed a few wooden toys on the
counter. I asked Mr. Workman if they needed more. "Oh Mr. Cooley,
do you realize there are millions of children who have never had a
toy."
That struck me like a ton of lead. I had never ever thought about
that. I replied: "Oh, we couldn't make a drop in the bucket for
a project like that." He said, "One toy makes a drop in
the bucket and it's a pretty big drop for the child that gets it."
I said "Ok, we'll make you some toys."
Extra Ordinary Whirlwind
August 1999: we received a phone call from Swiss Army Brand in Connecticut
telling us that we'd been selected to receive an award. Donna thought
it was a telemarketing call and almost hung up. But she was assured
it was legitimate and wondered if we could be in Salt Lake City on
a certain day in August. We looked in our planner and were scheduled
in Salt Lake City on that date.
We arrived in Salt Lake City, incredibly it turned out to be the day
after a rare tornado hit downtown Salt Lake City. We didn't meet them
in their tent by the Salt Palace as planned because it had been destroyed
by the tornado. They had us meet in the parking lot at the State Capitol
Building. We were so surprised because the president and CEO of Swiss
Army Brand was there to present this award. He presented us with watches,
Victronox all purpose knives with all the blades and tools. But these
were sterling silver and had our names engraved on it.
Then he read us the award and it stated: "Ordinary People
Doing Extra Ordinary Things." There was a photographer
there from the tribune. the next day there was an article and picture
in the Salt Lake Tribune. A few months later, we were in Lloyd Pendleton's
office at the church office building. He had seen the article and
congratulated us on receiving it. I told him that I had never been
very comfortable with that award. He asked why? I said because it
stated ordinary people doing extra ordinary things. Now, I've lived
with me every day of my life and I know that I have never done anything
extra ordinary.
He disagreed, "You and Donna made a commitment and you did it.
We all have good intentions but the ones that do it are extra ordinary
and what happens when you do it, it opens the door so the LORD can
come in and make the extra ordinary things happen."
The Wheels Start Turning
A little over three years later we had volunteers helping us and were
starting to produce quite a few toys. I was a little concerned about
our liability so I talked to an attorney friend. He didn't think we
had much exposure because we didn't sell anything but, we should probably
incorporate for protection. I didn't think we could afford that. He
offered his services incorporating the Happy Factory as a non-profit
charitable organization. He recruited a CPA friend to get us 501C3
rating with the IRS and another attorney friend filed for our registered
trademark. .All at no cost to us. And Happy Factory became more than
a dream.
We make toys from hard wood that is actually the scarp wood from cabinet
shops. We now have headquarters in Cedar and eighteen branches in
seven western states, and one in Campo Grande, Brazil. All the branches
pay their own overhead. We pay no salaries. We do provide the wheels
and axle pegs for the branches. This year we estimate we'll need 300,000
wheels. We have had more than 82,000 service hours donated.
We have kindergarten children through senior citizens. We have used
inmates for both youth and adult correctional facilities. We have
delivered more than 200,000 toys that have gone all over the world.
We're now in the process of delivering 250 steam shovels to all the
class rooms in the state of Utah that have children at risk programs.
These are the little pre-school children that have mental or physical
handicaps.
My Cup Runneth Over
The other day someone asked me, don't you get paid for all the time
you put in at the Happy Factory. I thought for a minute and realized
that we certainly do. We know what David meant in the 23rd psalms
when he said "my cup runneth over".
We thank the lord that we have been given the opportunity to give
many children a flower for the soul, to help jump start their imagination
to give them a feeling of power and control, to let them feel the
love of another human hand.
Anyone can make extra ordinary things happen, but you have to do
it. Isn't it amazing what can happen when people work together for
a common cause. That's called a Happy Factory.
Thank You Very Much,
Charles Cooley
