Baptist Care SA News

Bringing “Toymendous” fun to children every year

Bringing “Toymendous” fun to children every year

If it weren’t for our wonderful donors, Baptist Care SA’s WestCare Centre wouldn’t be able to help Adelaide’s most vulnerable. Your generous donations bring our community together and allow us to give back.  

After another successful year at the Baptist Care SA’s annual Christmas Toy Appeal, we want to recognise wooden toy building agency Toymendous for their incredible contributions. 2022 marks their fifth year collaborating with WestCare, where thousands of wooden toys made from scratch have been donated to the centre for marginalised children.  

“They craft something like 10, 000 toys over a year,” Inner City and WestCare Manager Stefano Tocci says, “then they handpick organisations that they want to give those to.”  

Tocci says agencies like Toymendous demonstrate an excellent example of organisations partnering with the community. 

“They do all sorts, from prams to dollhouses… it’s amazing, really, really cool,” he says. “So, cars… all of that out of wood, and they craft them throughout the year.”  

Toymendous are a South Australian organisation with their factory based in the north-eastern suburbs. Their journey began in 1988, when a small group of Woodgroup SA partners provided wooden toys to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. Now, Toymendous are a wider-known charity project, and their mission is to support other charitable organisations within the community to continue helping those in need.  

Businesses partner with Toymendous, providing them the equipment and materials necessary to build toys. Toymendous host workshops for people to learn, and then build toys. Anyone with or without experience in woodwork or building toys is encouraged to sign up and get involved for a small fee. Members of the organisation use donated resources to make parts and paint them, before assembling them into the finished product.  

We thank Toymendous for their amazing work, and for bringing smiles to children at Christmas.  

Baptist Care SA, lives, works and walks on Kaurna, Peramangk and Boandik lands. We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the state’s first peoples, recognise their traditional ownership, and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs, deep connection and continued guardianship of land and waters. We value the contributions of Elders past and present, and are committed to learning from those emerging.