Local Kiwanian and Humanitarian Donates Handmade Toys

St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis was the recipient of over 100 helicopters, coupes, sedans and dragsters this week.

But parking won’t be a problem.

These hand-made, wooden toy replicas are the products of humanitarian and Kiwanian George Dallmeyer of St. Charles, who uses his retirement and his conscious to make sure kids in local hospital emergency rooms stay happy.

Dallmeyer, along with the St. Charles Kiwanis Club donated 150 handmade toy cars and helicopters to SSM St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles and SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis this week for young patients who come to the emergency departments. Dallmeyer made the vehicles and other Kiwanians helped him paint them.

“I’ve been toying with woodwork for many years,” Dallmeyer quipped. “I read an article in a Kiwanian magazine about donating things to children and it gave me the idea.”

Dallmeyer has donated nearly 400 toy vehicles to SSM hospitals, BJC Healthcare, and St. John’s Mercy Health Care in the last year. “It is fantastic when you see the looks in the eyes of children who receive them,” he said. “Plus, this keeps me out of trouble.”

Dallmeyer is retired from the computer division of McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing).

Lindsay Smith, RN, and charge nurse of the SSM St. Joseph Hospital West Emergency Department, accepted the toys on behalf of the emergency department. “Lots of children come in here that have never been in a hospital before. It puts them at ease so they are not anxious. Many kids associate doctors with pain and these toys take their mind off of those fears and make their visits easier.”

Sherry Gerke, director of the SSM St. Joseph Foundation, said donations like Dallmeyer’s and the St. Charles Kiwanis are at the heart of what the foundation is about. “We are so thankful for the monetary donations that allow us to help the hospital provide necessary services and facilities. These handmade donations help us go that extra step and help us deal with more than patients’ medical needs.”

Gerke said donations of handmade blankets, pillows and caps to cancer patients are other examples of the generosity of the St. Charles County community to the hospitals. “We have so many people who donate gifts of love. These things remind people that someone actually made this for them. This never goes unnoticed because it means so much to the patients—to see their faces when they receive these things, is pretty unbelievable.”