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AFFTON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
Success comes from strangers, for a little boy in Affton who is raising money to buy a headstone for his father's grave. Ronnie Scheper ran through the parking lot of his father's auto repair shop on Heege Road drenched, and drenching anyone he saw. It was the only way to stay cool on the hottest Saturday of the summer so far; a perfect Saturday for a car wash and a barbecue.
In his 9 short years of living, Scheper has maybe never worked this hard. He's certainly never hurt this much. His father, Ronald, died Easter Sunday of lung disease. Ronnie sure misses him.
"He was a funny person to hang around, always smiled, was fun to talk to, and, always did stuff," says Ronnie, remembering his father.
Ronald Scheper's family scraped together enough money for a funeral but couldn't afford the 15 hundred dollar headstone required by the cemetery in Cape Girardeau where he is buried. Ronnie cannot stand the thought.
"Almost everybody has one," he says. "And that wouldn't be right for just one person to not have a headstone. So I thought, 'I'll do it.'"
Ronnie set out to make it right, organizing the benefit, and it was a success.
"People are driving by, even stopping on the street and the kids'll run out there and they give the kids money for nothing," says Ronnie's mother Linda Winterbauer. "They're giving 20 or 30 dollars for a car wash, or 20 dollars for a hot dog."
Linda's father was stunned at the response.
"It's amazing. All the friends and neighbors, and, I can't talk," said John Boyd, choking back tears. He and Linda both heaped praise on Ronnie.
"I don't think I would've ever thought of it when I was nine years old," says Boyd.
Winterbauer also heaped praise on the volunteers who helped, and the strangers who stopped by to donate.
Boyd says someone promised to make sure Ronnie met his goal. "Oh he will, no doubt in my mind. But we also had a guy come in this morning and said if Ronnie doesn't, he will. Pretty awesome."
"It makes me feel like happy," says Ronnie, "and like people do care about me."
In his 9 short years of living, Scheper has maybe never worked this hard. He's certainly never hurt this much. His father, Ronald, died Easter Sunday of lung disease. Ronnie sure misses him.
"He was a funny person to hang around, always smiled, was fun to talk to, and, always did stuff," says Ronnie, remembering his father.
Ronald Scheper's family scraped together enough money for a funeral but couldn't afford the 15 hundred dollar headstone required by the cemetery in Cape Girardeau where he is buried. Ronnie cannot stand the thought.
"Almost everybody has one," he says. "And that wouldn't be right for just one person to not have a headstone. So I thought, 'I'll do it.'"
Ronnie set out to make it right, organizing the benefit, and it was a success.
"People are driving by, even stopping on the street and the kids'll run out there and they give the kids money for nothing," says Ronnie's mother Linda Winterbauer. "They're giving 20 or 30 dollars for a car wash, or 20 dollars for a hot dog."
Linda's father was stunned at the response.
"It's amazing. All the friends and neighbors, and, I can't talk," said John Boyd, choking back tears. He and Linda both heaped praise on Ronnie.
"I don't think I would've ever thought of it when I was nine years old," says Boyd.
Winterbauer also heaped praise on the volunteers who helped, and the strangers who stopped by to donate.
Boyd says someone promised to make sure Ronnie met his goal. "Oh he will, no doubt in my mind. But we also had a guy come in this morning and said if Ronnie doesn't, he will. Pretty awesome."
"It makes me feel like happy," says Ronnie, "and like people do care about me."
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