Toys light up Christmas for kids

On Christmas morning more than a thousand underprivileged children's faces will light up with joy, thanks to the efforts of Lorena and Bob Bliven and dozens of other people who contributed to the Sisters couple's toy drive this year.

Those children are why the Blivens have spent hundreds of hours each of the last eight years on their toy drive. Lorena, a retired social worker, knows first hand the challenges many underprivileged families face.

After the couple retired in 1993, Lorena bought a giant stuffed bear at a garage sale for just $2. That bear gave her the idea for the toy drive.

Since then the Blivens have spent a good part of their time buying like-new soft toys at bargain prices and cleaning them up to give at Christmas. That first year the couple collected about 200 toys.

Dolls were added to the drive when two Tollgate sisters donated their doll collection. This year the toy total is over 1,200.

This week the couple's garage really did look like Santa's Central Oregon workshop. In fact, the garage has become somewhat of a tourist site, with more than 100 people coming to take a look this year. Some 168 cradled dolls cover tables and shelves; 1,100 soft toys cover the remaining floor space.

Each toy is decorated with a handmade bow and carries a Christmas gift tag that says "Bob and Lorena's Toyshop."

All Central Oregon fire departments, the Warm Springs Reservation, La Pine Tree of Joy, Central Oregon Battering and Rape Alliance, the Kids' Center and Grandma's House will distribute the toys this coming week. They'll be opened by children in houses from Warm Springs to Christmas Valley.

Although the Blivens are the focal point of the toy drive, Lorena is quick to point out that dozens of other volunteers have contributed money, materials, toys, and labor to this year's effort.

Chris Calvin, Ben's Cabinet Shop and two other cabinet shops donated the wood for the 168 handcrafted cradles Lorena and Bob made for the dolls this year. The pine cradles measure from 12 to 21 inches long and are matched to the size of the dolls that lie in them.

Each cradled doll has its own handmade crocheted or quilted blanket, donated by women in Sisters, Bend, and La Pine. Women at the La Pine Senior Center made doll clothes. Nine women worked from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. one day this week just to tie the ribbons on the 1,100 soft toys.

Although the Blivens still buy some toys at garage sales, many are donated, including some collectible dolls.

Lorena says dolls like Chatty Cathy or Tiny Tears are auctioned off on the internet to raise money to pay for the toy drive. Sales of Bob Blivens' wood rocking chairs also help to support the program.

The Blivens already have a start on next year's toy drive. Shirley Dexter of Terrebonne decided to end her doll business this year, and now the Blivens have about 500 dolls in storage and boxes filled with hundreds of beautiful handmade doll clothes, thanks to Dexter's generosity.

Although the Blivens love the toy drive and the fact that it's grown each year, Lorena says she wants to keep future drives to this year's size "so it's still fun."

Lorena is already collecting for next year's drive. She says donations of yarn, ribbon and stuffed animals are always welcome.

For more information, call 389-9554 or email to [email protected]