A pair of mascots created to promote road-worker awareness will be united for the first time during a toy drive and bags tournament to be held this month in Arnold.
The Kait’s Love for Jaxx Foundation is sponsoring the event, which will be held Saturday, Aug. 13, at Arnold City Park on Bradley Beach Road off Jeffco Boulevard near the Meramec River.
Family members of Kaitlyn D. Anderson of De Soto, who was six-months pregnant when she was hit and killed by a car while working for the Missouri Department of Transportation in November in St. Louis County, formed the foundation, a nonprofit group that is working to prevent similar tragedies from happening elsewhere.
The event will feature the debut of Jaxx the Deer and James the Safety Buck, mascots created by the foundation to educate children about the importance of safe driving in road work zones.
The deer is named after Anderson’s unborn child, Jaxx, and the buck is named after former MoDOT worker James W. Brooks of St. Louis, who also was killed in the accident.
Tonya Musskopf, Anderson’s mother, said Jaxx’s nursery was going to be deer themed and that’s why the education program has deer mascots.
“We will try to teach kids the saying, ‘Be a deer. Slow down and move over; workers are near,’” she said.
The Arnold event will be the first time both the mascots appear together, Musskopf said.
The toy drive will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., when unwrapped toys and gifts for children up to 18 years old will be collected. The toys will be donated during the Christmas season to three families the foundation has adopted, as well as to the St. Louis Crisis Nursery, said Musskopf, 45, of Melbourne, Fla.
The bags tournament is scheduled to start at noon. Entry costs $60 for a two-member team. Registration for the tournament will be open from 8-11 a.m., and the foundation expects as many as 30 teams to play in the tournament, said Tabatha Moore, Anderson’s aunt.
“We have been told by a couple of bags clubs that they plan to be there and will register that morning,” she said.
Moore, 37, of De Soto said that kind of community support is appreciated.
“We could not do this (run the foundation) without community participation and donations,” Moore said. “We would not be able to reach out and care for those who are grieving; we would not be able to continue offering programs for pregnant women; we would not be able to rollout our Jaxx the Deer drive safely education program without community involvement.”
The Mandy McGuire Group, a real estate business based in Columbia, Ill., donated the use of a truck for the foundation to use during the toy drive.
“I am hoping a lot of people come by to drop off toys,” Musskopf said. “I want this toy drive to be successful. In my daughter’s honor, I want to bless as many children as possible with toys.”
The foundation also will serve free hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages during the event. Donations will be accepted for the foundation.
Musskopf said an auction and raffle also will be held during the day to raise money for the foundation.
Anderson, who was 25, and Brooks, who was 58, died Nov. 18, 2021, when a car drove through a worksite on a ramp from northbound Hwy. 231 (Telegraph Road) to westbound I-255. Michael S. Brown, 35, of House Springs also was injured in the accident, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
On June 30, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell announced in a statement that a grand jury decided not to charge Stanley McFadden of Hills-boro, who drove the car into the work site, because he had suffered a medical condition that caused the accident.
Mascots
Jaxx the Deer’s first appearance was July 16 at a flea market in the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Belle-ville, Ill.
The mascot also appeared with Musskopf at a Slow Down, Move Over awareness ride July 31at the Marion County Fairgrounds and Events Center in Indianapolis.
“He has been very well received by children and adults,” Moore said. “We are excited to share him with them because he has that ability to reach kids and educate them on the importance of work-zone safety and slowing down and moving over. We look forward to him being highly successful with kids. We can’t wait to get him in schools.”
Moore, who teaches science at Hills-boro High School, said the foundation is working to develop curriculum and a video for a school program, and she said the foundation plans to start taking the mascots to schools in January 2023.
“I will take Jaxx the Deer and James the Safety Buck and we will travel to schools and events to get this message out,” Musskopf said. “We may get a couple of kids to put down their phone and get some adults to move over. It does a lot for my heart.”
Musskopf said she has been invited to take Jaxx the Deer to events in New York, North Carolina and Wyoming. Moore said the mascot also is scheduled to appear at events in Waterloo, Ill., on Aug. 6 and Dupo, Ill., on Aug. 7.
Moore also said the mascot is scheduled to be at Pevely Days on Aug. 20.