Two families will have merrier Christmas thanks
All of the rugged and burly men standing in the lobby of Buzzi Unicem Friday could not have kept 11-year-old Colton Adams away from his new electric keyboard.
As soon as he saw it, he tore it out of its box with all of the fury of Christmas morning and began pounding on the keys and pushing every button he could get his fingers on.
But Colton got more than just a keyboard.
For the 17th year in a row, the employees of Buzzi Unicem, Buzzi Alternative Fuels and the Boilermakers Union Local D39 pitched in and adopted two families with special needs children for Christmas.
In addition to some of the best toys any kid could want, both Colton, a Central Elementary School student, and Greencastle Middle School student Kinn Reagan received new gadgets to help them in class.
Kinn got a new IBM Thinkpad with voice activation software. Kinn doesn't have a computer at home and had a lot of trouble doing his homework with his limited fine motor skills. That's all in the past, though, thanks to the employees at Buzzi.
It's a dream come true for the 12-year-old Kinn, said his mother Roberta Reagan.
Among Colton's stack of electronic music toys, he also received a touch-screen computer monitor. Paired with a computer donated and configured by DePauw University, Colton will be able to learn technology and hopefully communicate with his family and teachers, his mother Karen Adams said.
In all, the Buzzi employees were able to pull together about $2,300 -- enough for gifts for the two families and a donation to the Putnam County Senior Center.