Dagen's Trash Truck | The Elves of Christmas Present

Photos by Emmalee Schaumburg

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2016, Dagen received a surprise. Santa arrived to Dagen’s house and brought him presents. One of the Christmas presents was a toy trash truck that looks just like the City’s trash trucks. As Dagen played with his new toy trash truck, Santa said a few magic words and a real life-sized trash truck with a vehicle wrap that stated “Dagen’s Trash Truck” appeared in front of his house. Dagen went on a special ride to pick up trash. Dagen got to be a garbage man on Christmas Eve! And every week Dagen, who is home-schooled, will be able to see his trash truck servicing trash carts in his neighborhood and will get a friendly “hello” from his sanitation friends.

Background: The City of Lawrence was contacted by The Elves of Christmas Present. This organization’s mission is to provide unique surprise Christmas gifts and experiences for children who are suffering from life-threatening illness and families that have experienced tragedy. A case was referred to The Elves of Christmas Present by Children’s Mercy Hospital involving a 6-year-old boy from Lawrence named Dagen who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. Since the age of two, Dagen has loved trash trucks. He tells his mom that he wants to be a garbage man when he grows up. When she says that he could own his own garbage company and hire others to haul the trash, he wants nothing to do with that. This kid wants to work with trash trucks!

The City’s Solid Waste Division has known Dagen for a few years. He definitely loves trash trucks and this type of work. Dagen is part of our solid waste family and the City was happy to participate in this Christmas surprise.

This gift to Dagen was made possible by:

City of Lawrence, Schaumburg Photography, Lawrence Sign Up and The Elves of Christmas Present

In January 2017, the Lawrence City Commissioners proclaimed January 19th as DAGEN KORYNTA IS A GARBAGE MAN DAY! Read the full Proclamation here.