Bismarck Tribune

By JENNYMICBy JENNYMICHAEL

Damon Smith does not look like the typical elf in his blue overalls and white T-shirt, a stocking cap covering his black hair.

But Smith, 37, is working as Santa's helper this year without pointy shoes or festive Christmas attire.

Each year, inmates at the minimum security Missouri River Correctional Center fix and clean used toys, which will then be given to underprivileged children as part of the Christmas Playpen.

The Bismarck Tribune, Salvation Army, Dan's Supermarket and the North Dakota State Penitentiary work together on the Christmas Playpen annually to help get Christmas presents to children in need.

Smith, of St. Cloud, Minn., spends Monday through Friday fixing and cleaning bicycles for the program. As he uses pliers and ratchets to repair brakes and gears on a red 21-speed bike, he says that he used to steal bikes and fix them up when he was a kid. Now, he gets to give repaired bicycles to kids who may not otherwise get them.

After he finishes the bike, he takes it out of the little shop for a test ride. He takes a few quick steps and hops on, switching gears and pushing on the brakes to make sure the bike will be good enough for a child's Christmas present.

"It's actually pretty fun out here," Smith says.

Dave Heidt, a correctional officer at MRCC, supervises the inmates who work on toys for Christmas Playpen. The inmates make $2.10 a day for their work, he says.

Currently, four inmates are working on toys, but Heidt says he may enlist more help after Thanksgiving. Toy donations usually increase after Thanksgiving, he says. One of the inmates, Robert Burtis, was sick and unable to work Monday.

Ron Parizek, 54, fixes the electronic items that are donated.

"If it's got a cord or a battery, it comes to me," he says.

Parizek, of Deering, calls himself "Elf Snuffy" and has repaired a variety of electronic items, including remote-control cars, televisions, a karaoke machine and a sewing machine. He says he is impressed with the number of educational toys donated.

Parizek says he didn't know how to fix a television before he came to the penitentiary, and now he has fixed many of them.

"I've learned a lot," he says.

Getting toys ready for children "makes me feel good," Parizek says.

Lechet Cooper, 26, cleans the toys and helps determine if they can be repaired.

"Any defective toys, I throw them away," he says. "A bunch of stuff in here is in real good shape."

Cooper, of Texas, said the best part of working with Christmas Playpen is getting "to help out the kids for Christmas."

Heidt says he and the inmates play with the donated toys to make sure they are in good enough shape to be donated.

Cooper says some of the toys were ones he played with as a child that he thought he'd never see again.

"It brought back memories," he says.

Heidt says toy donations have been good, but they need more items for teenagers. Video game donations have been slow this year.

"Every year, we're having problems with 14- to 18-year-old stuff," Heidt says.

Heidt's unlikely elves will be working on toys until about a week before Christmas. Heidt says he determines which toys should stay and which should be thrown away by thinking about whether he would want his kids to play with them. Badly worn toys or toys with little parts that could be dangerous don't usually make the cut.

"In a way, you feel like you're responsible for the stuff you give,"he says.

The Salvation Army will hold its Joy Shop in the week before Christmas. Any toys not taken by preselected families will be donated to other agencies, Heidt says.

"Whatever we have left over, we give to somebody," he says.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)