NORMAL - It was not so much at first glance, just a little red wagon. But the gift from Illinois State University' Delta Sigma Phi fraternity meant the world to the special-needs preschoolers at Metcalf School and their teacher, Missy Josephson.

Josephson's students are developmentally challenged. Of the four boys and a girl, all ages 3 to 5, one cannot walk. Two others use walkers. The wagon is their Cadillac, she said.

"I was in tears when they put it together," Josephson said. "Here it is almost finals week and they are over here (at Metcalf School.)

The wagon replaced the "rickety one," which was probably more than twice as old as the kids it carried, Josephson said. She'd inherited the old one when she took over the class nine years ago. Repairs could no longer hide the fact one wheel was not going to stay in place much longer. Josephson had no cash in her school budget to buy a new one.

Enter the men from Delta Sigma Phi. One of them, Nick Lisowski, has worked at the school three years after arriving at ISU from his hometown of Brookfield, where he worked with special-needs youngsters at a summer camp. He manages after-school and summer programs at Metcalf while majoring in criminal justice.

Lisowski was first to volunteer to help during Josephson's swimming program this semester, and he enlisted other brothers at the 70-member fraternity to help, too. Still others began to show up just to play with the kids and help with recess.

"Whenever I needed volunteers, I never had a problem getting plenty of guys," said Lisowski, who explained Delta Sigma Phi includes several members who are education majors.

"They do community service. They adopted the room," Josephson added.

That simple act was enough to set the young men above others in her eyes. "Not everyone can work with special-needs kids," she said.

The men of Delta Sigma Phi apparently saw more they could do. The kids needed a new wagon.

"The handle was about to fall off, and the one of the wheels didn't turn," Lisowski said.

He and his fraternity brothers showed up after school one day with a box. They asked if she had any tools. She had only a screwdriver and a hammer, but they were enough. The wagon, which was purchased by the fraternity's recent pledge class, soon took shape to become a gift given in the truest spirit of the holidays.

"We didn't ask them for it. They just brought it over because they knew we needed it," Josephson said. "They've done above and beyond all their volunteering."

The fraternity also donated money to the school to buy gifts for needy children, Lisowski said.

The kids in Josephson's class made a card by way of saying "thank you." They stamped their names because they don't yet write.

"We were happy to give it to her, happy to see the kids in it," Lisowski said.

The children are guaranteed they'll have lots of people willing to pull them around in their new red wagon after the new year, Josephson added.

"They (the men of Delta Sigma Phi) have asked if they can come in and work next semester," Josephson said. "There are wonderful college students."