Paying it forward

For the past few months, St. Charles-based Chad's Towing and Recovery has been leading birthday parties free of charge since birthday parties can''t take place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Chad's Towing and Recovery owner Chad Lindemann was surprised when he received his own parade in honor of his 45th birthday.

The parade was organized by South Elgin resident Sandra Sjoquist. In May, Lindemann led a birthday parade for her mother's 70th birthday. She lives in St. Charles.

"I was just expecting one tow truck to come and he came with five," Sjoquist said. "It was just absolutely unbelievable. That's a milestone birthday that we couldn't celebrate any other way but the way that we did."

Sjoquist arranged a birthday parade for Lindemann in the Thornwood subdivision in South Elgin, where he was leading a birthday parade at the same time. Lindemann was taken by surprise.

"I was amazed that they actually took the time out of their day to come out there for that," he said.

Earlier this year, Lindemann's company had been doing between seven and 10 parades a day.

"The kids and the parents really enjoy it," Lindemann had said in April. "It's great seeing the kids smiling at a time like this. It's hard explaining to a kid that their birthday party just got canceled."

Sjoquist appreciates everything that Lindemann has done.

"He's helped people smile during all this time of unknown and has created memories even though we can't all be together as we want to be," Sjoquist said. "It's a pretty stand up thing to do."