KIDstruction Raises $171K for Children’s Hospital

Food trucks serving wood-fired pizza, street tacos and designer cupcakes lined the street in front of the Wydown/Skinker residence of Julie and Rich Ledbetter of Castle Contracting last week. Executives from some of the the area's top construction company filled the Ledbetters' front lawn.

The festive setting was the scene for celebrating some serious fundraising by the industry on behalf of St. Louis Children's Hospital. Rich Ledbetter, president of Castle serves on the board of (SLCH) and was the chair of this year's KIDstruction fundraising effort, which raised $171,000 for Children's Hospital. KIDstruction encourages industry-wide participation, by soliciting both contributions from companies and hourly-wage deductions from field workers. 32 companies and approximately 1,200 tradespersons participated in this year's effort. This year's  KIDstruction Week was May 2-6.

At the event, Lee Fetter, president of Children's Hospital and Dr. Jose Pineda spoke about the work of the neuro-critical care program at Children's and how KIDstruction Week will benefit their work.

"Cornerstone" Companies made major cash contributions to the campaign, as well as encouraging their workers to particpate. Those companies were:

• Alberici Constructors, Inc.
• Budrovich Contracting
• Castle Contracting
• Clayco
• Goodwin Brothers Construction Co.
• Helmkamp Construction Company
• Kozeny-Wagner, Inc.
• McCarthy Building Companies
• Murphy Co., Mechanical Contractors & Engineers
• Niehaus Construction Services, Inc.
• Paric Corporation
• Rhodey Construction, Inc.
• Rock Hill Mechanical Corp.
• Zickel Flooring

Participating Companies matched contributions from their workers. Those companies were:

• Aschinger Electric Company
• Ben Hur Construction Company
• C B & E Construction Group
• Drilling Service Company
• Environmental Operations, Inc.
• Flooring Systems, Inc.
• Grant Contracting Co., Inc.
• Guarantee Electrical Company
• Horizon Engineering
• Kaemmerlen Electric Company
• McGrath & Associates, Inc.
• National Association of Women in Construction St. Louis Chapter
• Rebar Specialists Installation
• S. M. Wilson & Co.
• Sachs Electric Company
• Sachs Steel & Supply Corporation

• Schaeffer Electric Co., Inc.
• T. J. Wies Contracting, Inc.Vee-Jay Cement Contracting Co., Inc.

Vendor sponsors and donors for the program were:

• CK Power
• Fred M. Luth & Sons, Inc.
• Johnson Controls, Inc.
• Marcal Rope & Rigging, Inc.
• Midwest Aerials & Equipment, Inc.

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