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Harvey Townsend likes the look his Christmas toys put on kids’ faces.
He walks the aisles of Newberg Fred Meyer, at various times during the 10 days leading to
Christmas, looking for youngsters who would enjoy one of his handmade toy Santa Clauses.
“Would you like your own Santa Claus?” he asks them. The Santa heads,
about the size of a Christmas tree ornament, which he constructs out of yarn and plastic
mesh, open at the mouth when he squeezes their cheeks to reveal hidden Hershey’s
Kisses. The kids’ reaction, he said, is “complete delight.”
“They’re fun to make,” Townsend said, “and even more fun to
watch the expression on the kids’ faces.”
Townsend, 80, of Newberg, has been going to local retailers to give away his
creations for the past three or four years. He said he has the most luck finding kids at
Fred Meyer.
A call to the store on Tuesday afternoon was answered by Dari Varner. She knew
about “the older gentleman who gives Santa dolls to kids.” So did several of her
coworkers.
Varner, who works the customer service desk, said Fred Meyer has no problem with
Townsend using the place to give away his toys. She said regular customers this year asked
whether he would be back, and what kind of toys he would be giving away. “Kids really
like it,” she said.
Townsend, a Nebraska native, moved to Portland in 1967, retired from the Department
of Motor Vehicles in 1980 and settled in Newberg in 1991. He started making the toys about
five years ago, he said, because it “gives me something to do.”
He said the idea for his toys came from a craft magazine. He calls them, simply, Santas.
Each one takes about an hour to construct, lacing the yarn through the pieces of mesh and
threading the pieces into one. This year he made more than 150. He also makes toy
Christmas trees.
Townsend, who carries a cane because his knee occasionally gives out, estimated he
gave away about 85 toys this past Friday through Sunday. He figured he will have sold
about 50 of his toys for $1 apiece at the Tigard Senior Center. Proceeds pay for more yarn
and plastic mesh. He also makes and gives away toys for Easter and Halloween.
“It’s just a fun thing,” Townsend said. The kids go wide-eyed, he
said, his face mimicking the expression.
Samantha Cone, 4, was riding through Fred Meyer on Wednesday morning in a grocery
cart, navigated by her parents, Ken and Juli, who live in Newberg and are employees of the
school district. An elderly man with thin stubble on his face and wearing a blue baseball
cap and navy blue jacket approached them. He gave their daughter a toy Christmas tree.
“It was a nice gesture to be handing out the things for the kids,” Ken
Cone said. “It was unexpected.”
Samantha will use the toy Christmas tree to decorate her own small Christmas tree,
Mom said for her. “Mm-hmm,” Samantha agreed, then correcting her answer.
“Yes.”
Juli said a gesture as small as Townsend’s can be a good lesson for kids.
“It’s not always about I want, I want, I need, I need,” she said.
“Someone made something special for her.”
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