So earlier this week I told you about being contacted from one of our old friends that we’ve worked with in the past with Santa’s Sleigh. He is a pastor of a church in Oklahoma and he recently became aware of a single mother with three small children working two jobs who couldn’t provide a Christmas for her kids — and he asked if we could help.
We are pretty short this year so I was a little worried until he told me all it would take would be about $200 for this family. I sent him the money.
The ladies of his church went to work and this lady was extremely grateful. In fact she insisted on being able to send a thank you note. The pastor contacted me with this request and I refused, stating that Santa’s Sleigh flies in the dark of night and gives anonymously. I told him that if she wanted to give thanks to find someone she could help in some small way to have a Merry Christmas.
She works for a fast food place and at the end of her shift on Wednesday her boss gave her a gift card. She decided to “pay it forward” and used the card to buy a meal for a car in the drive thru. That started a string that extended more than 80 cars. She stood in tears for nearly two hours after her shift as car after car paid for the car behind them — amazed at how the giving of something so small spread so far.
She told her pastor that God was teaching her this Christmas.
He tells me, “Brother, by helping her to receive you have also taught her to give. She is aglow with the Christmas spirit and I cannot contain her energy in trying to help others here this week. She is serving neighbors and asking at every opportunity what she can do to help. She is smiling when just weeks ago she was downcast and dreading Christmas. She is inspiring others now and I can feel so many around me giving to others because of gifts like yours. It is a blessed season. God bless you and your merry elves.”
And that, boys and girls, is why we do this. Thank you for making this possible.