Tons of toys for Basin kids

MOSES LAKE — The crew at the Moses Lake Food Bank has it down by now. And to be honest, it really takes a system to get the mountain of toys donated by the community to less-fortunate families.

People donated money directly to the food bank for Operation Friendship, the annual toy distribution. Big Bend Community College sponsored a toy drive, and the Unchained Brotherhood motorcycle club spent two Saturdays down on Stratford collecting money and toys. The upshot was a lot of playthings – half a dozen huge cardboard bins filled with games, dolls, trucks, action figures, toy dinosaurs, footballs and basketballs and soccer balls, among many other toys.

Nancy McFadin retired from the Moses Lake Walmart earlier this year, but she came back to help out on the day the food bank crew came to buy toys for Operation Friendship. “This is my favorite time of year,” she said. The company sets aside a checkout line just for Operation Friendship and employees are assigned to help out if necessary, she said.

Big Bend Community conducts its own toy drive, donating cash as well as toys. “They’ve done this every year for – forever,” said Sandi Casebolt, who helps run the toy distribution for the food bank. College students and officials donated half a dozen bags of toys, not to mention cash.

“I love it. I love it,” said Jennifer Peterson, as she helped sort toys Saturday morning prior to distribution. Peterson’s husband is a member of Unchained Brotherhood, and they had an SUV full of toys by the end of their first Saturday, she said.

Unchained Brotherhood members do their shopping at the Ephrata Walmart, and on the day they went in they cleaned out the toy aisle, Peterson said. But nobody minded. “She (the manager) was like, ‘Jen, do you need another shopping cart?’”

Once all those toys were collected they were sorted into the huge bins, ready for distribution. Volunteers from the Unchained Brotherhood, other groups, and some individuals work the distribution. Parents submit a list with the ages and genders of their kids, and volunteers fill a big plastic bag with toys.

Any toys that are left or are donated late are available for distribution until closing time Thursday, said food bank director Peny Archer.