Vern Heinle’s 8-year-old grandson thinks he’s Santa Claus.

His wife, Caroline, had a conversation with the little boy not too long ago.

“He was convinced, he said, ‘He has a beard, he has a workshop and he builds toys,’” she said.

And around the holidays, youngsters in need in the area may well think Vern Heinle is Santa, because the toy-building 78-year-old Kent resident will deliver 200 handmade wooden cars and trucks to the Forgotten Children’s Fund with some of grandsons in tow.

Vern Heinle began building toys for the Seattle-based non-profit four years ago after connecting with Jim Pelletier of Covington.

Vern Heinle is a regular at Shari’s on Kent Kangley Road and 132nd Avenue Southeast in Kent, where Pelletier is the manager, and was encouraged to get involved in the restaurant’s efforts to support the Forgotten Children’s Fund annual Christmas drive.

A year ago Vern Heinle told the Reporter that Pelletier’s enthusiasm for the work the non-profit does overwhelmed him.

“Over the years, Vern has brought in some of the stuff he’s made, some of the wallets, some of the holsters, some of the jewelry boxes,” Pelletier told the Reporter in November 2010. “The connection was easy. We do a food and toy drive twice a year: Christmas in July and Christmas. In talking about, one Vern walked in with these toys he had just created. I don’t think we officially talked about it. It just happened.”

Last year Vern Heinle made 145 toys, this year his goal is to make 200, with 140 made as of Oct. 13.

Vern Heinle spent 40 years as a carpenter but has made toys as a hobby for decades. His house is filled with his handiwork, as well, his wife of 20 years points out. There are toys, a rocking horse, cabinets, jewelry boxes, blocks worn smooth from use, the dining room table and more.

Caroline Heinle also pointed out her husband’s photography skills and his ability to paint pictures on leather as well as a gorgeous, handmade music box sitting in an entertainment center he also built.

Work on the toys for this year’s drive for the Forgotten Children’s Fund — a non-profit which has been doing this since 1975, when a letter to Santa landed in a restaurant, where a group of people decided to ensure that needy children and their families would not go without at Christmas — began in September.

He would have started sooner, but, the retiree said he had to get the patio project done in the backyard first.

“It satisfies the creative urge in me,” Vern Heinle said of toy building for the fund. “Also, it gives my ego a boost.”

His wife pointed out the important lessons this kind of community service teaches their grandchildren.

“I’ve heard you tell the grandsons, ‘You  need to learn what it feels like to give, the feeling of doing that is more than anything you can buy,’” Caroline Heinle said. “We’ve involved the grandsons in this so they can learn the satisfaction of doing something nice for someone else.”

It fits into his philosophy of life, as well.

“A friend of mind told me, ‘It’s not about what you take with you, it’s about what you leave behind,’” Vern Heinle said.

Making toys which inspire children to use their imagine, he added, comes from growing up “10 miles from nowhere” in North Dakota with very little money.

Growing up he would go searching with his friends and siblings to find bleached out animal bones to play with because they couldn’t afford toys.

That is what taught him a child can play with anything.

“The toys bring out the creative in the children,” he said. “With my cars and trucks the little boys can become truck drivers or race car drivers.”

Vern Heinle said he couldn’t have done any of this without the help of Lumber Products or his friends Richard, Clarence, Brian, Scotty and Matthew.

In addition, he encourages anyone who wants to help support the Forgotten Children’s Fund to drop off non-perishable food items at Shari’s in Kent.

While he may not be Santa, Vern Heinle sure does a good impression of the jolly old elf.