The Story of a Miracle...

   This project came about like most which is either in the form of an idea or a request for help. The email and following phone call simply said "We have some families and individuals that need help this year for Christmas, will you help us?"  I looked at Janet Maddox and asked her if she was ready to try to pull off a miracle and she said yes without question or hesitation, so we went to work.

   Our first thoughts were of doing something like we did years ago in the true meaning of an old-time and traditional Christmas. What is more old fashion and traditional than people joining together for some Christmas Carols and a cup of hot chocolate. In order to tell you the whole truth about this project I must tell you that there were some very negative responses that hit us in the face on our first trip to the plate and the high, hard-one hit it's mark. Honestly, I threw up my hands and said to myself, "Ok, we will just do what we can for these families/individuals on our own."  A few hours later I realized that this was quitting and allowing some lies and small town game playing take away Christmas for a number of people. One thing my dad never taught me was how to quit, so it was time to step back up to the plate for the rest of our allotted swings regardless of the outcome.

   Adam Kuchan, a teacher at HHS, contacted us with a number of students who wanted to get involved and help with a community project and they chose this one. Our "Army of Angels" was there to help us. A quick call to Greg Cox, owner of The Chuckwagon, got us all the FREE Hot Chocolate we would need and another call to Red @ Night got us an answer of, "What ever you need, we'll be there!"  Some more great people jumped in and helped more than they know, THANK YOU Jackie Thompson, Misty Long, Paul Stephens, Ginger Long, Josh Sisson, and Angie Haarman. Janet Maddox took on the very difficult task of making the phone calls and visits to businesses asking for their help and donations. This is a wonderful experience when these owners and managers can and will help you help others, but it can be heartbreaking and personally devastating when you get some of the short and cold "No's!" A huge Thank you Janet for enduring this difficult task, especially during the times when the no's were much more numerous than the smiles of the yeses because you and all who took their turn at the plate made this impossible miracle happen.

   The Christmas Wishes we held in our hands and hearts were simple and basic ones. They were not for big-ticket items but for the basic needs for their families, things like; groceries, household supplies, gas cards, "just a little something for my kids", and of course the great-grand mother who just wanted to be with her family for Christmas.

   I am very happy to tell you that YES, the miracle happened, all those Christmas Wishes came true and more...

   Janet was set on making this all happen, going from place to place was filled with emotional highs and lows, sadly one store even refused her to post one of our flyers, but even those experiences are all forgotten when you find managers like Eric at Pamida who not only provided her with a gift card from his employer but purchased two himself and personally helped make a miracle happen. Many other businesses helped us make these Christmas Wishes come true and they include: The Lawford Theater, The Chuckwagon Restaurant, This & That, Wireless Express, Pamida, Wal-Mart, The Sweet Shoppe, Dollar General, Mission of Hope, Dan Stephens, Pat's Tap, Central Illinois Loans, The Pub, American Sport, The Video Store, Wolters Drug Store, Rick's Auto, NAPA, and all of the many individuals who made donations. They came from near and far and this could not have happened if it were not for you. For example, I received an envelope in the mail postmarked from St. Louis; it contained a donation from my uncle Stanley Connolly from O'Fallon, thanks Stan for your help.

The Event on December 22nd

   Red@Night is a great band, but the band is made up of greater young folks, please learn more about them by CLICKING HERE. They promised something different and they really delivered. Their acoustical set was amazing and definitely was a showcase of their talents. I hope they do more of this in the future. These great guys came and stayed much longer than they intended to. We didn't have any big crowds at once but many of you stopped by as we hoped you would to hear these guys, share a cup of hot chocolate, and even join in. Janet was even doing a makeshift road block in reverse by handing out free hot chocolate to people driving down Main Street. The event was a great time and Red@Night pretty much summed it up best in a note they sent me which read: "Thank you Ted for letting Red At Night share with one of your biggest success stories of 2007. Your continued support of the entire area is truly an inspiration to all. All those involved with this project were able to experience the TRUE meaning of Christmas....caring and giving to those in need. Please count us in "The Army of Angels" next year and lets continue to grow this "community of giving" in 2008 and beyond. No, I'm not afraid to say it...MERRY CHRISTMAS TED...GOD BLESS."  A very big Thank You to these guys, and BTW, I just learned that in the spirit of Christmas you can go to their MySpace and get FREE Downloads as a gift to you. Just CLICK HERE.

Shop-Till-You-Drop

   Our mission was to stretch every penny, so once again it was Janet to the rescue as she can go somewhere with only a dollar and come out with a ton of things and she did just that. It wasn't just the going out and getting everything which was needed but the figuring out how much we had to work with and where it all went was the task at hand. So after all that was done and her trusty hat on, it was out to do just a little bit of shopping...

   ...followed by some serious assembly and packaging tasks brought us to Sunday morning with just the appropriate amount of snow on the ground it was time to get the gifts where they belonged. We can't show you the happy faces and the tears of joy that you placed on all those faces but we can tell you they are there. To all of you who helped make this miracle happen thank you will never be enough.

   We will be posting a more detailed accounting of the funds raised and all that in a few days as soon as we catch our breath. I would like to mention that our 50/50 Ticket #430496 was drawn which was purchased by Paul Stephens who generously donated his winnings to make it an even better Christmas for these families.

   A miracle did happen this year at Christmas thanks to you and your help. From the bottom of our hearts here at 62644.com, we wish you and all of our visitors a very...

Merry Christmas

      And by-the-way, remember the great grandmother's wish only to spend Christmas with her family? I would like you to know that her granddaughter and children are on their way on their 650 mile trip to be with her on Christmas. This single parent family had scrimped and saved (even went without gifts for each other) to get there to no avail but they will make it along with Christmas presents for all in the trunk. This happened because of a very special person from Fulton County who wishes to remain anonymous that stepped forward with $500 in gas and gift cards. There were also two generous people and a local business who's help made this trip possible so we would like to give a very special thank you to Wireless Express and Tracy Scalf.

A note from our Christmas traveler: "I wanted to send a thank you for helping my family get to my grandmothers to see her for Christmas.  Without your help we would have never been able to make it to see her.  Her health is failing fast and after spending a week with her we know and have come to terms that was probably the last time we will see her.  We smiled and cried together because it was a surprise for her, she wasn't sure if we would be able to make it.  She was so happy to see her great-grandchildren and we spent hours just talking like we used to. I will be eternally grateful for what you did to give my grandmother the best gift for Christmas.  My children and I were able to bring in the New Year with her which made her very happy to have us there for that too. God Bless you all for what you do. Thank you so much for everything."

   The Miracle on Main Street has happened before and will continue to happen every day of the year in some form, that is just what we are fortunate enough to be able to do. This story will continue on and on, so please continue to visit our humble publication we try our best to provide for you for more on this and other things to come.

   I would like to thank my family for their understanding and patience of my absence from our Christmas dinner on Saturday. I would also like to thank the one very special person who gets no credit for the existence of this online publication yet it is him who so generously makes this all possible for Miracles to happen. Richard Steward is the President of our web hosting service. We have never met in person, only spoken on the phone and exchanged emails. Richard is the real reason there is a thing called www.62644.com and the reason we are able to make these miracles happen and your pictures free. Thank you Richard and a very special Merry Christmas to you and your family.

UPDATE:   I can now give you facts and figures on the results of  our efforts to help a total of 26 folks at Christmas time whose holiday would have been very bleak at best. Our Miracle on Main Street project netted a total of $1,843.50 in donations of gift/gas cards, various gift items, 50/50 drawing, and cash donations. This allowed our "Super Shopper", Janet Maddox to spend an average of $70.90 on each of the 26 people involved. I want to thank everyone who helped and all of you who donated in any manner, no matter how big or small. We are going to plan this event for next year in hopes that the actual event itself will grow into a community gathering for an old fashioned Christmas event of friends, music, carols, hot chocolate, and of course family. People have told me that there will always be those last minute discoveries of those families who will not have a Christmas so we will be able to plan ahead more for next year to help even more.

Like to see more of our community projects, please CLICK HERE.