The children at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis received gifts for Christmas thanks to the kindness of the St. Louis community, including the Peterbilt of St. Louis Parts Department.
Ready for the holidays and the presents that typically come with, hundreds of children received invitations this fall to attend a December Christmas party at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Unfortunately, the toys they were to be gifted turned to ashes in a massive 5-alarm warehouse fire that burned for several days before the month of December even came.
Catching wind of the catastrophe, several staff members of The Larson Group’s Peterbilt of St. Louis dealership stepped up to give back to their community.
“It was heartbreaking hearing about the children’s toys,” said General Manager Ted Yahl. “We just wanted to do whatever we could to help not only members of our own community, but to bring happiness to those children for Christmas.”
Parts Department staff, including Dan Landgraf, Jeff Kaduk, Mark Naysmith and Tim Bohnenstiehl were quick and selfless to take up a dealership-wide collection. The team was successful in gathering $321 in cash and toys. The money was spent at a local Walmart to buy additional toys for the Shriners Hospital. That collection of toys (pictured) was then delivered to the Shriners’ location in Maryland Heights in time for their annual Christmas party for the children.
According to the hospital’s Public Relations Specialist Breanna Wyman, almost 700 people attended the event December 10.
“We had an outpouring of support from the community,” Wyman said. “We are still collecting toys and are very grateful to the Peterbilt group for thinking of us.”
See video coverage of the event HERE.