Woodworker Donates Handmade Toys for Children

Woodworker Donates Handmade Toys for Children

It has been busy around here with quite a few tragic and traumatic events that our officers have handled. We are fortunate to work in a city that provides us with mental health counseling, Critical Incident Stress Debriefs (CISD) and other resources to help us understand and cope with the trauma that we experience and witness during these critical incidents. We are also fortunate to be able to have such a wonderful Victim Advocate for victim’s that are also impacted by these traumatic events.

Oftentimes lost in the conversation of these critical incidents is the impact that these types of incidents have on children who witness and or are impacted by these events. It is not uncommon for us to encounter individuals committing crimes with children in tow, finding children hiding in closets and under beds following a domestic violence incidents and other situations in which children are exposed to things that they should never have to see or experience.

Last month, we were provided with several boxes of handmade wooden toy cars which were made by Larry Laing of Sequim. Larry provided us with these toys that he made with the hope that they would be a bridge and much needed distraction for us to assist children coping with the immediate impact of traumatic events and stress.

To date, Larry has handmade over 6,000 such toys that have been distributed to orphanages, children’s hospitals, and children’s charities all over the world.

We want to give Larry a heartfelt thank you for his donation at a time which could not have been any better and recognize his efforts to help comfort children all over the world with his acts of kindness. Also thank you to former Tukwila PD Sergeant David Desmul (Badge #10) for facilitating this for us.