IBC Member Pete Mattschull makes a difference for the John Thiessen Children’s Foundation
New York Islanders Business Club
October 24, 2008
On October 1st, Pete Matschull the Vice President of S-Tron attended the Islander’s Business Club Tradeshow and Kickoff Event at the Nassau Coliseum. Little did Pete know how attending this event would be so instrumental in the lives of so many.At the IBC, Pete was introduced to John Thiessen of the John Thiessen Children’s Foundation. For those of you who do not know John and his story, you really need to get to know him. When John was 17 years old he was hospitalized for a brain tumor at a local children’s hospital. During his stay, John and his family befriended a seven-year old girl named Tasha. This little girl was in and out of the hospital throughout the year receiving different treatments for her illness. She received very little family support. She was dropped off and then picked up again when it was time to go home without having a visitor.
Tasha was very excited about a holiday party sponsored by the hospital staff and was expecting her family to attend. They unfortunately did not. John was still too ill but his family agreed to take her. When Santa asked her what she had wanted, Tasha replied, “I would like a teddy bear for my friend upstairs.” The teddy bear ended up being a present for John. Her positive attitude and generous spirit inspired him. When John got out off the hospital he wanted to help children just like Tasha.
In 1992, he held a toy drive during the holidays to benefit children in local hospitals. During the first toy drive, he collected over 800 hundred new toys in just two weeks and brought them to three different hospitals. Well that was the beginning of what has become a year round organization. Since 1992, John and his foundation have collected over 550,000 new toys and donate them to sick and underprivileged children in over 185 hospitals and child-care facilities across Long Island year round. They also donate therapeutic and recreational equipment. Donations also enabled them to fulfill wishes and help families with medical expenses. In 15 years, John has never said no to a child in need.
“We need more people like John Thiessen and Tasha in this world. Luckily we have someone just like them in current IBC Member Pete Matschull”, said Dave Kotowski, General Sales & Marketing Manager for the New York Islanders. Pete met John at the event and recognized his name from hearing about his foundation. Pete asked John what he was up to lately and John told him about his new Family Fun Center he had recently opened. “The Family Fun Center will be a unique place where kids get to be kids and forget about any of their ailments. It will be open to groups as large as 150 people and will be completely free,” said John. Pete was quite impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of John. John, being the person he was asked Pete about his business. Pete told John that S-Tron specialized in electronic security systems. “Pete told me another interesting fact about S-Tron, 50% of their employees are veterans of the United States Military which really impressed me,” said John. John could also tell quickly that Pete was someone who truly believed in his own company.
The two continued their conversations and Pete learned that John was in need of some of the services of his company and they scheduled a meeting after the IBC event. Pete and John met at the Family Fun Center so Pete could assess the situation for a security system and the overall installation that would be required. A few days later, John received a package in the mail from S-Tron. Included in the package was a bill for $7,500 worth of security products. “To say that I was shocked when I received the package was an understatement,” said John. One of the reasons he was shocked was because the bill was marked PAID IN FULL. Pete was able to partner up with a local security products manufacturer EVERFOCUS. Joe Troiano, Senior VP of Everfocus agreed to donate the color cameras and Digital Video Recorder for such a worthy cause.
Not only did Pete have the entire system paid for, but on October 16th, Pete showed up at the Fun Center with most of his staff after hours to install the entire system. Pete’s employees had volunteered to work on their own time for free because they also believed in John and his foundation. Today, John, the Fun Center and all of the children and families who come through their door have a state of the art security system that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
John Thiessen and Pete Matschull are two of our fellow IBC Members that we can all be proud to call one of our own. It is stories like this that will continue to make the IBC into something very, very special for years to come.
