The Little Train in Soden’s Grove is getting another windfall from business supporters, in addition to monies raised through penny wars at elementary schools.
Brian Lewallen, vice president and general manager at Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing Central, said that the company will match all donations collected from its employees as part of an offer made by Lewallen this month.
“Our goal is to get $750 internally by Friday,” he said, “then ... the company will match that.”
Lewallen said that when he came to the community about two years ago, he quickly recognized the train as one of Emporia’s assets.
“It’s one of those real treasures to the community, just like the zoo,” Lewallen said. “I have kids myself. We use it regularly during the summer, unfortunately, when it was working last year, which wasn’t too often.”
Lewallen said that several of his employees have seen him riding the train with his two children and later teased him about it. But the train is something he and his family enjoy.
“Kids all love trains; I love trains; my grandfather even worked for the railroad,” he said.
Lewallen complimented Sertoma Club members for their efficient, friendly operation of the train.
“(They) make it fun for the kids,” he said.
Totals still are coming in on fundraisers held in several schools in the Emporia district.
Emporia’s elementary schoolchildren will hand over thousands of dollars that they raised in penny wars held at Logan Avenue, Timmerman, Riverside and Village schools.
At Logan Avenue School, the smallest elementary school in the district, the total collected was $1,357, according to student support specialist Carla Fessler.
“We are so proud of our kids and their families as well as our staff and all those who donated to this cause,” Fessler said.
The Logan program was coordinated through Fessler and the Do Something Club at the school.
At Timmerman Elementary, the drive brought in $1,207.74.
“Just in pennies, nickels, quarters, and dimes, we had over $700,” said Vickie Kennett, student support specialist who named the students’ drive “Choo-choo-choose to save the train.”
Myoan McJunkin, who teaches reading at Riverside Elementary, reported that among the students, teachers, and a generous grandparent, the drive totaled $1,668.71. The children brought in $848.71, teachers, principal, paraprofessionals and maintenance combined to give $820 to the students’ drive, and the grandparent donated $375 — $75 to match the grandchild’s first-grade class total and another $300 in memory of the child’s uncle.
Early in the drive, McJunkin had placed a train engine on a Riverside window and was adding a railcar to the train every time $10 was collected. The response to the drive quickly caused McJunkin to add cars every $50. The result was a window full of paper railroad cars.
Students at Village school checked in with a total of $1,536.34.
Amy Chapman, Village student support specialist, said that one first-grader, Ashlyn Miller, had raised $200.
“She went around her neighborhood and asked people if they would raise money for the train,” Chapman said. “She did it all on her own.”
Chapman had been inundated with change during the drive and had hauled the first wave of it to the bank after the first two weeks.
“It took me three trips in to carry in all the change,” Chapman said then, adding that a Good Samaritan in the parking lot carried some containers for her.
“Those machines at the bank are wonderful,” she added.