[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” max_width=”1040px” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/standard.jpg” title_text=”standard” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” max_width=”1040px” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”1040px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Six-year-old Brayden Matthews likes port-a-potties. He likes their colours. He likes spotting them on the landscape.<\/p>\n
And now he can enjoy playing with them, too.<\/p>\n
The Welland boy who has been diagnosed with autism likes everything about the portable toilets, including their bright colours and that they can be found on construction sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we drive around town he notices them and starts to count them,\u201d his grandmother Judie Matthews said.<\/p>\n
When Brayden was playing with his construction Lego blocks and toys he asked his grandmother and mother, Kristy Matthews, why he didn\u2019t have a portable toilet for his toys \u2014 it only made sense to have a bathroom on his miniature job site.<\/p>\n
Judie said she looked everywhere for one, including dollar stores and toy stores, but she was left disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t find one anywhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After sitting on the idea for a while, she decided to reach out to Halco Portables in Welland to see if the company knew where to find toy portable toilets. Judie spoke to operations manager Steve Schilstra who said he might have a portable toilet piggy bank at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found it and threw some change in it \u2026 it felt really nice to help out,\u201d Schilstra said.<\/p>\n
Brayden was happy to receive the miniature that he could put to use in his toy construction site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Schilstra said he decided to share Brayden\u2019s story on a portable sanitation industry Facebook group. He said Brayden\u2019s excitement and enthusiasm was sweet and thought maybe other people in the industry might enjoy hearing about Brayden.<\/p>\n
Schilstra said he was floored at the amount of people who liked and shared his Facebook post.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople wanted to give back and gifts started coming in,\u201d Schilstra said.<\/p>\n
Portable sanitation companies from Canada and the United States sent miniature potties, T-shirts, caps and Lego for Brayden.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, we never expected this. We were happy with the piggy bank,\u201d Kristy said.<\/p>\n
Judie agreed, saying it gives her joy knowing there\u2019s people out there who care about their \u201clittle guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something special about him, he\u2019s such a sweet boy,\u201d Judie said smiling.<\/p>\n
What Brayden likes most about the toy potties is that he can hold them. He said the potty Lego set is his favourite and he\u2019s looking forward to playing with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can build a ramp with Lego,\u201d he said with a big grin.<\/p>\n
Schilstra and company owner Dino Collini recently took Brayden for a tour of the Halco Portables to let him check out different types of portable sanitation bathrooms. Brayden said his favourites were the green ones, because that\u2019s his favourite colour.<\/p>\n
mallenberg@postmedia.com<\/p>\n
twitter.com\/m_allenberg\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Six-year-old Brayden Matthews likes port-a-potties. He likes their colours. He likes spotting them on the landscape. And now he can enjoy playing with them, too. The Welland boy who has been diagnosed with autism likes everything about the portable toilets, including their bright colours and that they can be found on construction sites. \u201cWhen we drive around town he notices them and starts to count them,\u201d his grandmother Judie Matthews said. When Brayden was playing with his construction Lego blocks and toys he asked his grandmother and mother, Kristy Matthews, why he didn\u2019t have a portable toilet for his toys \u2014 it only made sense to have a bathroom on his miniature job site. Judie said she looked everywhere for one, including dollar stores and toy stores, but she was left disappointed. \u201cI couldn\u2019t find one anywhere,\u201d she said. After sitting on the idea for a while, she decided to reach out to Halco Portables in Welland to see if the company knew where to find toy portable toilets. Judie spoke to operations manager Steve Schilstra who said he might have a portable toilet piggy bank at home. \u201cI found it and threw some change in it \u2026 it felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4441","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4447,"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4441\/revisions\/4447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halcomobile.ca\/halco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}