Christmas comes early
<p>Susan Sommer, co-owner of Fickpickle's Toy Emporium, left, packs a sack with toys Monday as Kristin Andre, development coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County, looks on. Several area nonprofit organizations received donations as the Coeur d'Alene toy shop distributed 1,000 toys.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Just in the St. Nick of time.
Usually scrambling for all the toys they can get their hands on before the holidays, several nonprofits were able to load up their Santa bags Monday morning, thanks to a national award Figpickels Toy Emporium received that provided the windfall.
Ho, ho, ho - 1,000 extra toys, and the timing of the bounty couldn't be better.
"These will definitely be used, especially this time of year," said Kristin Andre, development coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club in Post Falls. "It's awesome."
Not shabby gifts, either. The toys, hand-crafted and unique, were assorted by how well they would fit each nonprofit. The Boys and Girls club walked away with a giant, green stuffed animal that could double as a child's bed. The club will keep some of the toys in house, and gift others out.
"We have a lot of families in need," said Gwynn Moe, the club's director of operations. "This helps even more. You always find another family in need you didn't know about."
Along with the club, Children's Village, Sacred Heart, Toys For Tots, Northwest Specialty Hospital, Kootenai Medical Center Foundation, Dalton Elementary School Library and CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, all received gifts from the 'Year of Charity' award.
"I think it's great, we run really short this time of year," said Jim Mangan, Toys for Tots volunteer, who picked up the toys at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Plaza Shops. "We take all we can get, we're still taking applications."
In addition to the award, other manufacturers committed around 300 toys to reach the 1,000 total.