Anoka pilots bring holiday toys to Mercy and Unity

COON RAPIDS, Minn. 12/14/2007--Children who are hospitalized at Mercy and Unity hospitals will receive gifts during the holidays, thanks to the 100-member Anoka County Chapter 237 of the Experimental Aircraft Association. Each year, local pilots join others from across Minnesota to deliver toys to a central site where they are sorted by recipients’ ages and bagged for delivery.

pilots

Experimental Aircraft Association pilots delivered Christmas presents for pediatric patients at Mercy and Unity hospitals on Wednesday, December 12. Posing by the Christmas tree at Mercy Hospital are from left to right: Sheila Wells, nursing support coordinator; Krissa Lehti, RN; Don Berndt, pilot; Glenn Martig, pilot; Kathleen Lougheed, nurse manager; Chris Fisk, RN; and Shelly Crawford, RN.

"We try to find toys for every age, including the teenagers," says pilot Glenn Martig of Lino Lakes. The toy drive is called Tree of Hope.

"No one likes to be in the hospital during the holidays, and the toys make the kids feel better, and we really appreciate them," says Kathleen Lougheed, RN, manager of Mercy’s Women’s and Children’s Services.

This year, the collection event was held on December 1 in Faribault, and because of a snowstorm, most of the pilots had to drive instead of fly. But Martig, who has delivered toys for Mercy and Unity for 16 years, says it was worth the trouble.

Mercy and Unity hospitals, located in Coon Rapids and Fridley, are non-profit hospitals that serve the northwestern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

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