Commerce Divisions Team Up to Repair and Donate Toys, Blankets, Pillows and Baby Items to Homeless Shelters

725 toys and 225 pillows, blankets and baby items to be donated

Who:         Superintendent of the Division of Industrial Compliance (DIC) David Williamson and employees of DIC, the State Fire Marshal’s office and the Division of Liquor Control.

What:        Photo opportunity in conjunction with toy, blanket and pillow repair.

Where:     Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, 6606 Tussing Road, Reynoldsburg.

When:       Thursday, December 16, 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Notes:       Each year, hundreds of stuffed animals are cut open at an Ohio Department

                  Commerce laboratory, sacrificed for the safety of Ohio consumers.  But,

                  thanks to an innovative holiday program, these toys are being rescued so

                  so that they can be given to needy children.

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 the state laboratory in Cambridge, where they are cut open by lab technicians.  The technicians perform chemical and microscopic tests on 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.  This year, employees from the Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance and the Cambridge post of the Salvation Army are donating their time to carefully sew 725 stuffed toys back up along with 225 pillows, blankets and baby items.

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