Christmas may be over, but the feeling of Santa’s workshop was alive and well at Montville Plastics & Rubber in Parkman Township Jan. 13 during its service day with RePlay for Kids.
Christmas may be over, but the feeling of Santa’s workshop was alive and well at Montville Plastics & Rubber in Parkman Township Jan. 13 during its service day with RePlay for Kids.
Every quarter, the manufacturer that provides custom plastic extrusion and injection molding, shuts down for the day, bringing workers from all three shifts together for staff development and activities.
Annually, Montville spends one of these afternoons giving back to the community.
This year, the employees worked to adapt toys for children with disabilities to assist RePlay for Kids, an organization that increases the availability of toys and assistive devices for children with disabilities.
They repair existing devices, adapt mainstream toys, design new devices, and educate families and clinicians, according to their website.
“Our quarterly is really about creating bonding experiences for the employees,” said Tracie Roberts, vice president at MPR. “They can give back to the community in a zero-cost way. It’s a fun activity to do together — to build.”
Paul Basel, vice president of sourcing and procurement, added, “It’s a great opportunity for team building — to work together to accomplish a goal. Plus it’s a new experience with soldering and hand-eye coordination. They get to end their day with toys.”
Simple, mainstream electronic toys can be rewired to attach a universal jack, which can then be connected to an alternative on/off switch that meets the abilities of the toy recipient — those who may not have the fine motor skills to activate the toys. This is done by stripping and soldering wires inside the toy to the wires of the universal jack, Wardega explained.
“It’s not just about having the perfect toy,” said Natalie Wardega, assistant director for RePlay. “It’s about education about children with disabilities and toy adaptation.”
At the Montville event, employees could choose between rewiring a small Tickle Me Elmo doll or a crawling baby toy. If adapted correctly, these toys can then be attached to a large button or switch. When the button or switch is triggered, the Elmo will talk or the baby will crawl.
RePlay had stations set up where the Montville volunteers could test their toys.
“It’s funny to watch. Who you think would get them to work is sometimes the person who doesn’t,” Basel said.
Tony Fisher, a second-shift supervisor who has worked for Montville for 16 years, has adapted toys for RePlay before. He said the last time he did it, it was easy, but this year, it took him a few attempts.
“It’s not frustrating — I just want to get it to work,” Fisher said of the Elmo doll in his hand.
Therapists use the toys volunteers like Fisher adapt to teach cause-and-effect relationships to persons with disabilities. This assists them in learning how to use wheelchairs and other adaptive devices in the future, Wardega said.
“It’s something we can do with the employees and it’s truly amazing building together,” said Roberts. “It’s a great cause.”
RePlay provides services in 20 different counties in Ohio, said Wardega. For example, in Geauga County, they work with Bessie Benner Metzenbaum Center, and host over 100 workshops annually both in RePlay’s creative space in Solon and at locations like Montville. RePlay brings all the equipment and supplies needed, including the soldering irons and mats, tools bags and printed or QR code instructions. The volunteers typically donate the toys, and at this event, Montville donated 50 toys to be adapted.
This year, RePlay gave away over 2,000 toys and adapters.
