Local man on mission to help children’s hospital
Karen Peterson
Dewey Schliep was recently recognized by the Ce ex Tanks of Thanks program for his contributions to Seattle Children's Hospital.
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ST. IGNATIUS – Dewey Schliep received a thank you card for his volunteer work, and he says that it’s appreciated, but the project is more about honoring his son.
In 2007, Schliep spent most of his time in a children’s hospital in Seattle. His 2-year-old son had an extremely rare blood disorder that would take his life that year.
About three years ago, Schliep was watching television and he started thinking about his son. He said he thought about how hard the Seattle Children’s Hospital worked to help his boy.
“I wanted to give back to them,” he said.
He started saving money when he could, $10 here and there, and he bought crayons and other items, and he sent them to the hospital. People heard about what he was doing and they gave him more items.
“It eventually got to where shipping was too high,” he said. So, the next year, he decided to drive to the hospital in his car and drop off the items he collected all year. Word spread about what he was doing and more people donated items.
“I didn’t accept money,” he said. “I didn’t want to deal with that.”
And last year, his small car was overflowing with items, so a friend donated a truck for the journey.
“Every year I do this it gets bigger,” he said. “People drop off stuff at the gas station, they send me stuff, people see me in town and give me stuff.”
He estimated that he had about 2,600 items for the hospital on his last trip. Staff members give the items to the children and families undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“When I drop off the stuff, they say ‘you came all the way from Montana?’” he said adding that he enjoys the drive.
Schliep was recently recognized for his work with a gift card for $50 from Cenex with a national program called Tanks of Thanks.
“They give out hundreds of these gift cards to anyone in the community for things like helping someone change a tire in the snow,” said Darren Orr, St. Ignatius Cenex manager. “Once in a while, we get a really cool story like Dewey’s.”
Orr nominated Schliep for the award.
“Every year he gets a bunch of donations, and I wanted to do something for him,” he said. “He never wanted any recognition, but this might come in handy.”
The regional marketing manager for CHS and Cenex said that $500,000 in free fuel has been given away through the program so far, and it will continue.
“Tanks of Thanks does more than give away free fuel,” Akhtar Hussain said. “It empowers people to continue doing good things for their communities.
