KANNAPOLIS — Teenager and heart transplant recipient Stephen Widenhouse will be collecting canned goods during the Kannapolis Christmas Parade on Saturday a Statesville-based ministry.
Widenhouse was born with a heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Last year, he received a heart transplant on Dec. 8, and Saturday marks the anniversary of that surgery.
With 18-year-old Stephen at the wheel, he and his family will be riding in his maternal grandmother’s truck in the Kannapolis and Mount Pleasant parades, both Saturday.  Jane Riley died on Nov. 24 and was a dedicated volunteer to Fifth Street Ministries in Statesville. 
In her honor, the family will be collecting canned goods at the parade to be donated to the organization.  They hope to have enough to fill-up the small Toyota truck she had used to cart around her flowers and gardening supplies.