Lewes Crossing elves support Toys for Tots

Ken Marmen, a retired builder who moved to Lewes Crossing this past June, was looking for a way to spread Christmas cheer doing what he does best – working with wood.

What he came up with was an idea to make wooden toys for the Marine Toys for Tots campaign.

He placed a post on social media to see if anyone in his community was interested in helping him, and he received a great response.

Two groups of neighbors gathered at the Marmen house with Ken and his wife Mickey, and worked in his new basement wood shop. “We all wore masks and separated ourselves, working in separate rooms. Some worked in the shop and some did the painting in another room,” he said.

They completed more than 50 wooden toys, including 1930s roadsters, Army jeeps, three-piece trains, tic-tac-toe boards and doll closets.

The toy-building neighbors started in mid-October and finished in mid-November. Marmen said they plan to build at least 100 toys next year by starting earlier.

For more information on Toys for Tots, go to nassau-de.toysfortots.org.