Pulling a firetruck in Des Plaines for charity

Faith may move mountains, but charity can enable people to drag a 40-ton fire truck across a suburban parking lot.

On a chilly, rainy Sunday afternoon, this was demonstrated during the inaugural Pull the Fire Truck to the North Pole event at the International Association of Machinists Union Hall in Des Plaines.

Teams of 15 dragged a rope attached to an 80,000-pound fire truck about 100 feet across the parking lot at 50 W. Oakton to raise money for Operation North Pole ORD, Inc., a charity that partners with United Airlines to host Operation North Pole, a flight that takes children with life-threatening illnesses on a trip to the North Pole to visit Santa.

The group's treasurer, Tim Crossin, said the charity is able to provide gifts to the financially strapped families of the ill children.

“Their stress level is 365 days a year. So our goal is to try and give them one day of stress-free holiday happiness,” he said.

Fifteen teams entered this year, and despite the enormity of the task, Crossin insisted no one was hurt.

That didn't mean the task, which for some teams lasted as much as 40 seconds and as little as 24 seconds, was easy.

“The experience was great. Great cause. Great people. Very difficult though,” said Ned Derfler of Chicago, who joined two teams, one from the Marines and another from Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

With food and other activities, including a bean toss and dancing to music provided by a DJ, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Mundelein resident Lauren Justin belonged to the Mudslingers team. Her 6-year-old son, Ryan, wasn't pulling with her, but he was pulling for her at the event.

Lauren Justin summed up her experience by saying, “I feel like I just pulled a fire truck,” adding that she felt it primarily in her arms.

“A couple of us were worried about it, but we were pretty prepped for a heavy fire truck. It was hard. I'm not going to lie. We put a lot of muscle into that,” she said.

In fact, they had to call in the Marines – three to be exact – since the team was only able to field a dozen members.

Barb Dabler, president of Operation North Pole, who works in the emergency room at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and as a flight attendant with United Airlines, said the idea for the operation originated with the United Airlines employees. After two years, she said, the group decided to separate from United for the third year and involve firefighters and their families.

This is the first year for the fire truck pull.

The truck was provided by Appleton, Wis.-based Pierce manufacturing, which makes the fire trucks used by suburban firefighters.

Last year, Dabler said the group was able to buy gifts for 132 children. The gifts included TVs, computers and beds.

Des Plaines firefighters were among the firefighters and public safety officials involved in the effort.

“You can always count on firemen,” she said. “I couldn't have done this without their support.”

“It's all for the kids. That's the bottom line,” said Des Plaines fire Lt. Richard Gross.