Wally and Margie Harrison still recall their visit to Jamaica nearly 30 years ago as part of their volunteer involvement with the Peace Corps. The couple, who were in their 50s, stayed with a family with two young boys. One day, Marge found two rubber bands and when she gave one of them to the kids, the youngsters were ecstatic.

“They were delighted; it was a toy for them. They played with rocks and sticks,” Wally Harrison said.

That incident stayed with them, and after moving to the Pacific Northwest and retiring, the couple wanted to do something for kids in third world countries.

About three years ago, Harrison came up with a simple design of a wooden car that could be easily replicated. They obtained permission from construction companies to pick up their leftover framing materials from building sites. And when a church sent a group overseas who volunteered to take cars for kids in their suitcases, the WallyCar project was official born.

Since then, Harrison and his helpers — he’s recruited several volunteers to make the cars — have distributed more than 5,000 cars to kids all over the world, in 18 countries including Morocco, Chile, Indonesia and Columbia.

Harrison still makes the cars in his wood shop in his Poulsbo garage, but one of his friends, who has professional-grade tools, can accommodate a small group at his own shop — so periodically, the group gets together and makes hundreds of the toys. The volunteers include a banker, a retired pharmacist and other professionals.

“They all get a big kick out of it,” Harrison said.

The Harrisons have been financing the production of WallyCars, which included buying thousands of wooden wheels (the only part not made by the group in-house). This past fall, supporters suggested a fundraiser, so WallyCars set up a table at Central Market in Poulsbo.

“The reception we got was tremendous,” Harrison said. “(Store manager) Tom Hall said, ‘Let’s do it again…’ Everybody’s feedback has been great.”

The WallyCar effort has not been formalized into a nonprofit because the Central Market fundraiser was the first attempt to solicit financial support; Harrison also said since they only need about $2,000-$4,000 to sponsor the toys, there has not been the need so far to create a formal organization. All donations received go toward purchasing materials like the wheels and dowels for axles, as well as replacing blades and such for the shop equipment.

Because construction sites have become far and few between in the past few years, Kingston Lumber stepped up to provide the wood for the cars. The lumberyard gives the volunteers all its scrap pieces. “To them it’s trash and to us, it’s gold,” Harrison said.

Since the project’s inception, several locally based nonprofits that work in Third World countries have partnered up with WallyCar to distribute the toys. In some instances, distribution could be a bit more challenging than three years ago since airlines now charge for luggage; the partner organizations receive the WallyCars for free and then are responsible for delivering them.

Among local organizations that have distributed WallyCars are Port Orchard-based Etta Projects and Children of the Nations based in Silverdale. The goal is to make and distribute about 2,000 cars a year, but Harrison said they have the capacity to make as many as 4,000. The group is looking for other organizations interested in taking the WallyCars to kids in poor countries, and they pre-screen the groups to make sure they meet an important prerequisite: That the cars are distributed to the kids with no strings attached.

“What I hope to do eventually is have people do WallyCars around the country,” Harrison said. He’s already had some interest from friends in other states. “People our age who are retired could do this and get a lot of satisfaction,” he said.

Wally and Margie Harrison said they took this idea on because they really like children — they even moved into a new Poulsbo neighborhood recently so they can be surrounded by kids. The couple, who are surrogate grandparents, said they wanted to do something for children who have nothing.

“It’s just evolved,” Margie said. “…We’re looking for more places to go into, and now we have the volunteers to make the cars.”

Anyone interested in the WallyCar project may contact Wally Harrison via e-mail, wallyandmarge [at] hotmail [dot] com.