Update (6:30 p.m. ET): Tonka employees have become aware of the search for the Blue Police Hummer truck Max wants. A spokesperson for the company posted on the company's Facebook page thanking people for reaching out. The spokesperson wrote:
This is the exact reason we do what we do. We love hearing stories like this and we will do everything in our power to help. We currently have our team searching through our warehouse archives in the US and China for the 2000 Fire Rescue Hummer. We hope to be able to send them as many as we can find as well as a giant Tonka care package. Giving is the true spirit of Christmas, and we would not be where we are today without our fans and customers. We live to give back whenever we have the opportunity to do so. This story touches our hearts and we hope to make this special fan’s Christmas extra special!
PREVIOUSLY:
Many parents have probably been stressed out by trying to find the hottest toy of the year for Christmas, only to come away empty-handed.
But for Cassie Gretschel, her mentally and physically disabled brother is obsessed with a toy truck that stopped being produced over a decade ago — making it that much harder to find.
"The only thing he wants for Christmas is a Blue Police Hummer truck, made in 2000," she wrote online.
Every Christmas for 17 years, her family has bought Max the same truck. But this year, it's been a lot harder to find the toy. She's already bought every single one she can find and reached out for help.
She asked the users of Reddit to look and see if they have the toy truck lying around. Although she offered to purchase the toys from people, strangers from all over the world have come to her aid for free!
Keep scrolling to see how people are helping Cassie make Max's Christmas perfect.
Cassie Gretschel took to the popular sites Reddit and Imgur to see if anyone had her brother's favorite toy.
"My brother, Max, is 25 years old and mentally about a 5-year-old," she explained. "He's mentally and physically disabled and the only thing he wants for Christmas is a Blue Police Hummer truck, made in 2000."
Since the toy truck stopped being produced, Cassie has been running out of resources to buy new ones. Her family has bought every single truck from eBay for the last 17 years.
She reached out to Reddit to see if anyone had the truck she could buy.
One user sent her a link and offered to help her order it.
This user ended up buying the truck on eBay for Max and offered to ship it to his family in time for the holidays.
After Cassie wrote that the truck needs to have a metal hook, another stranger offered to cast the rubber hooks in metal to please Max.
More people came to Cassie's aid, using Twitter to get in contact with Tonka and the toy company that manufactures the trucks.
So far, the company has not responded, but people all over the world are helping her find the trucks.
This stranger has gone above and beyond to help Cassie and her family.
Besides reaching out to every company, they also offered to pay for all costs to get the trucks to Max.
One user found the truck in the house and immediately offered it for free despite Cassie posting that she'd pay for any truck others might be able to find.
Cassie uploaded this photo of the toy trucks Max already has and is hoping to get more for future Christmases.
"He plays with them for hours daily, so a lot of them have broken down and been used for parts over the years," she wrote.
Thanks to the power of the internet and the generosity of others, Max should be getting his favorite toy this Christmas.
Please SHARE this post on Facebook if you hope Max has the best Christmas!
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
