Who: Director of Commerce Donna Owens, Superintendent of Industrial Compliance Carol Drake, Commerce staff, and members of the media.

What: Photo opportunity in conjunction with toy giveaway.

Where: Generations (homeless shelter for children) at 1185 East Broad Street.

When: Thursday, December 18th, 1997 at 9:30 a.m.

Commerce's Bedding and Upholstered Furniture section inspects filler material inside representative samples of stuffed toys sold statewide, to ensure the toys are safe and accurately labeled. The toys are sent by the manufacturers to a state laboratory in Cambridge, where they are cut open by lab technicians. The technicians perform chemical and microscopic tests on the hundreds of different types of fillers used in toys produced by manufacturers from around the world.

Instead of being disposed of, the toys are set aside until the holiday season, when they are "rescued" by state employees. Earlier this week, employees from the Department of Commerce's Division of Industrial Compliance donated their time to carefully sew 275 toys back up along with 40 quilts, blankets and baby items. The toys are being given locally to toy give away programs sponsored by Generations and St. Stephen's Community House, while the quilts, blankets and baby items will be donated to Safe and Sound homeless shelter.

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