A Denair boy saw a need. Valley Children’s now has hundreds of toys for patients
New toys await hundreds of patients of Valley Children’s Healthcare thanks to fellow kid Carter Waterson of Denair.
The 10-year-old rounded up 423 toys from donors in the second annual Carter’s Caring Christmas drive. He and his family delivered them Friday to the Pelandale Specialty Care Center, a north Modesto branch of the Madera County hospital.
Carter got the idea last year when he drove past Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock with his mother, Quinn Waterson, and asked about children spending Christmas in hospitals.
Valley Children’s has inpatients in Madera, where some of the 2019 toys will go. The Pelandale center offers outpatient care in numerous specialties and will get some of the donations, too.
“This is a wonderful gift,” said Zara Arboleda, director of communications and public relations at Valley Children’s. “It’s always nice to have comforts like that in our specialty care centers.”
The 2018 drive yielded 250 toys for the Madera site. The Waterson family had help on the latest version from C. Sargent & Bryan Tax Preparation & Bookeeping of Modesto, the Cloth & Quilts store in Hilmar, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department and Tom Brandstater/Wells Fargo Advisors.
The Modesto center opened last February on Pelandale Avenue. It provides cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurology, orthopedics and a few other specialties. The center previously was on McHenry Avenue.
Carter’s mom is an instructional coach for Modesto City Schools. His father, Tom Waterson, teaches social studies at Enochs High School. Carter attends Medeiros School in Turlock along with brother Chase, 8, and sister Reese, 5.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 4:47 PM.
