Jun. 15—When children are forced to flee war in Ukraine, they often leave with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Their toys — and the comfort those toys provide — are left behind.
Doug and Louise Brown, founders of Wood to Wonderful, believe every child should be able to play and imagine freely.
That’s why the Browns and Wood to Wonderful are donating up to 7,000 handmade wooden toys to children in Ukrainian refugee camps and hospitals.
“Children’s work is playing,” Doug Brown said. “For children to play, they have to have toys.”
Wood to Wonderful’s toys are hand-crafted in house by a team of volunteers with the goal of creating high-quality toys children will use and cherish for years.
The nonprofit has operated from their woodshop in Reading for over 25 years, distributing 7,000 to 10,000 toys annually among local children in need.
“We’ve met parents of children we gave toys to decades ago and they tell us that their children still have those toys and just cherish them,” Doug Brown said.
Unlike some electronics, wooden toys deeply activate children’s imagination and offer unique developmental benefits to creativity, according to the Browns.
“If you want to hear our helicopter make a noise, you have to do that with your imagination, you can’t push a button and make the sound come out,” Doug Brown said. “The sound comes from you. You have to interact with the toy.”
That type of creative play offers an escape for Ukrainian children surrounded by trauma and tragedy, Doug Brown said.
“They can imagine themselves flying away on the helicopter, making the noise as it goes away,” he said.
Many of the toys Wood to Wonderful will ship to Ukraine are also pocket-sized, Louise Brown noted, meaning they can be carried easily by refugee children who may not stay in one place for long.
“Everybody just loves this little whale that we make,” Doug Brown said. “It’s just really a soothing little toy, and it fits in a child’s hand.”
Toys from the initial shipment have already been distributed in several locations throughout Ukraine, including the Dzherelo children’s rehabilitation center in Lviv.
He said Wood to Wonderful’s next job is crafting about 2,000 baby rattles for newborn Ukrainians.
“Since the start of the war, 15,000 babies have been born,” Doug Brown noted.
He said that figure was from late March so the current count is likely much higher.
So far, Wood to Wonderful has sent 1,400 toys in April, in partnership with Father Roman Oliinyk of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Schuylkill County, who organized the shipping, the Browns said.
“He was just overwhelmed with the toys,” Louise Brown said. “His message to us was that the children were happy.”
Another round of 1,600 toys is getting ready to be shipped this month through The Toy Foundation, a global charity that distributes millions of toys annually to children in need, Doug Brown said.
To help
Those looking to volunteer or donate can visit woodtowonderful.org for more information.
