Dec. 24, 2024

Two days before a fundraising driving was scheduled to wrap up, Oliver Goernhardt stumbled his way into buying hundreds of stuffed animals.

Goernhardt is the CEO of Cytion, a German biotech company that expanded to Sioux Falls late last year.

While searching online for a different event, he discovered a teddy bear drive being organized by twin sisters Ava and Juliana Guzzetta, students at O’Gorman High School. It was scheduled to end two days later, with a goal of collecting donations for Sanford Children’s Hospital.

“Coming from Germany, this seemed rather unusual and ambitious to me, and as a parent myself, I obviously have a soft spot to help children whenever possible,” Goernhardt said.

“I subsequently scrambled my crew to source as many plushies as possible within the limited time we had.”

The plan was to visit locally owned and operated stores first and stock up at multiple Walmart locations to make it a meaningful amount, he said. The goal was to buy in bulk while leaving some stuffed animals for others to purchase.

The Cytion team headed out and within hours returned with 205 stuffed animals — bringing the students’ total to more than 300 donations.

“It was a rewarding experience to help the twins in their endeavor to bring some smiles to the hospitalized kids. Both are ambitious and impressive young women, and I am sure this is not the last we have heard of them,” Goernhardt said.

“I am very grateful that my employees are always onboard with the out-of-the box shenanigans I come up with on short notice and that they support me even when I give away some of our company resources that they work very hard for.”

International biotech company chooses Sioux Falls for U.S. expansion