The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-12-21
Toys Reconditioned By Many WPA Workers
27O Men Assigned to Task of Aiding Santa Claus; Thousands of Riddles to Be Remembered Christmas

Christmas is coming to thousands of Connecticut kiddies who live on the "other side of the tracks" for added to the plans of the many well fare organizations, private business institutions, churches, civic bodies and the like, word comes of 270 WPA assistants to Santa Claus who have been laboring since November first to repair thousands of broken-down toys, dolls, etc, for distribution to the less fortunate children.
 10000 Toys
 In ten principal cities of the state, these men and women, experienced workers on the toy projects of the Works Progress Administration, have rejuvenated more than 10000 toys which are destined to bring joy to the hearts of children on Christmas day. To many of them Christmas would be just another day were it not for the thoughtfulness of the agencies which make all this possi- ble. And, because of this, many a twentieth century counterpart of '"Tiny Tim" will have cause to mur- mur on Christmas day God bless us, everyone"
 The ten toy projects, all working in close cooperation with the local welfare departments and other charitable organizations, are located in Stamford, Bridgeport, New Haven, Meriden, Waterbury, Middletown, Hartford, Manchester, Norwich and New London. Doing their share in aiding an over-burdened Santa Claus and adding to the Christmas spirit, officials of the post offices are forwarding all letters addressed to Santa ot the toy project headquar- ters in their respective cities.
 Re- Conditioned
 While the WPA does not give toys away, it provides the means of re- storing to near-original condition the many thousands of toys collected by the numerous salvage shops and other toy collecting agencies.
 Workers skilled in all types of la bor are re-employed by the WPA at local toy headquarters. They con- sist of cabinet makers, iron work CTS, mechanics, electricians, hand paint stripers, paint spray-gun op- orators, cobblers, hair dressers and seamstresses, all of whom are kept busy in their particular phase of toy restoration.
 The cabinet makers repair doll houses and other toys made out of wood, and where badly damaged, cut and fit new sections; broken down bicycles, wagons and scooters make work for the iron workers; mechan- ics are forever engaged in their par ticular field repairing the intricate mechanisms that spin the wheels or gve animation to this class of toys. With the new types of toys on the market today electricians are needed mre than ever; paint stripers and Spray-gun operators put the finish ing touches on practically all of the utput; cobblers, in addition to mak- ing shoes for dolls, make all of the leather fittings for use in other play things, while the hairdressers and seamstreSses work exclusively on the dolls, creating and designing in an attempt to make the dolls even bet ter than before.
 System
 In all of the projects a non-par- tial system of distribution of the toys has been devised. Special booths are provided, labeled for boys and girls, and toys are sorted in accord ance with the age of the youngster. Large bags are prepared for the children of families on relief. with and age and sex of the child ap- bearing on the bags. AS these bags reach the toy project, workers read ing the labels put in the toys ac- cordingly. In this manner, the bags being unnamed, no one knows to whom the toys are going until the actual time of delivery
 Here is how the WPA is cooperat-