Tow trucks haul gifts for needy kids
By Mike Nolan mnolan@southtownstar.com November 13, 2011 10:18PM
Tow trucks loaded with toys in the Tow Trucks for Tots parade approach Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, Sunday, November, 13, 2011. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times
Joliet takeoff
JOLIET — Tow Trucks for Tots’ World’s Largest Tow Truck Parade returned to the area Sunday morning.
Trucks began lining up in the Hollywood Casino Joliet parking lot at 5 a.m. and the parade kicked off at 9 a.m. The trucks traveled 42 miles via police escort to Toyota Park in Bridgeview where the towers unloaded collected toys for shipment to the Chicagoland Toys For Tots Motorcycle Parade Warehouse.
Participating towers collected toys for children up to 18 years old for several months through drop boxes at their places of business. Some held large parties and fundraisers.
Tow Trucks for Tots is a non-profit organization made up of the towing community, its suppliers and the wonderful volunteers who collect toys for children.
Hollywood Casino Joliet, the former Empress Casino Joliet, is a Penn National Gaming casino located near the Interstate 80 and Interstate 55 interchange.
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Updated: December 15, 2011 10:08AM
Santa on Sunday ditched his sleigh for a tow truck.
The fourth annual Tow Trucks for Tots Parade brought tow trucks from the Chicago area and states including Kentucky, New Jersey and Tennessee to Bridgeview’s Toyota Park. Cub Scouts from Orland Park and Orland Hills helped unload a record 324 trucks, piling bikes, board games and other toys into public works department dump trucks.
The idea of Orland Park resident Pat Winer, the parade aims to boost the often-maligned image of tow truck drivers, and the turnout may set a new Guinness world record. The 2009 parade set a record when 309 trucks took part, and Winer said he’ll file paperwork for the new figure.
Toys collected Sunday were trucked from Toyota Park to a Bridgeview warehouse maintained by a group that organizes the annual Chicagoland Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade. The toys, along with those collected for the Dec. 4 motorcycle run, will be turned over to the Marine Corps Reserve.
More than 20 boys from Cub Scout Pack 372 volunteered — as the pack has done for previous parades — to spend their morning unloading toys from the tow trucks.
“It’s showing (the boys) the value of giving, and it’s helping out the community,” Chris Kanofsky, an Orland Hills resident and coordinator with the scouts, said.
Winer said his son was previously a member of the scout pack, and he’d contacted the scouts for the first parade. It’s since become a tradition, and boys eagerly followed behind the public works trucks, stopping at each tow truck to transfer their cargo. Some of the tow trucks were decked out with wreaths, ribbons and twinkling holiday lights.
One scout helping to tote the toys was Matthew Hawkins, a fourth-grader at High Point Elementary School in Orland Park. Not only did he get a peek at some toys he wouldn’t mind getting this Christmas, he had a few helpers in addition to his fellow scouts.
“The whole family comes out for this,” his dad, Scott Hawkins said. “It’s a great event.”
Also lending a hand were Matthew’s mom, Patti, and his sister, Danielle, a sophomore at Sandburg High School.
While Winer didn’t have a final tally on the number of toys collected, he noted that many towing companies had each gathered hundreds of gifts, and more than 150 firms participated in the event, with several of them having multiple trucks in the parade. One firm, Calumet City Auto Recyclers, brought nearly 1,300 toys, he said.
Along with setting up donation boxes, Automedic, an Orland Park towing company, enlisted the help of area businesses in collecting toys, and dropped off 414 at Toyota Park, Jeff Skvarla, a part-owner of Automedic, said.
Two Homer Glen restaurants — Chesdan’s Pizzeria & Grille and the Purple Onion — helped spread the word to their customers, with Chesdan’s including information about the toy drive with every pizza it served.
“Chesdan’s was calling us almost every day” with toys that had been donated, Skvarla said. “It was kind of neat.”
Coy’s Towing in Matteson has been involved in the parade all four years, but this year wanted to do something a bit different. Ken Huff, a manager with the company, along with his wife, Joyce, and Coy’s owner, Coy Williams, focused on collecting as many new bikes as they could. Turning to their customers, and with the help of some local police and fire departments, they were able to bring 125 bikes to Toyota Park.
However, one of their three tow trucks carrying the bikes in the parade was sidelined when its starter went out, Ken Huff said. Fortunately, they were able to get a tow to Bridgeview from one of the other companies taking part.
Winer owns Worldwide Equipment Sales in Rockdale, which builds and outfits tow trucks. He said that having a parade of tow trucks isn’t a new idea — it’s typically done for funerals of towing company owners — but that he wanted a parade that “could be joyous” and benefit others.
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