STORIES
Families We've Impacted
The Christmas Connection of Jackson County has impacted many families. Read below to see a just a few of our stories.
We've changed the names to protect the identities, but the stories are real.
AMY
You mean I don't have to pick?
Amy came in to pick up Christmas presents for her 3 year old. Chelsea, a Christmas Connection volunteer, found her in the present viewing room staring at the box that Christmas Connection had put together for her with all of the things she requested for her kids. She was holding up one piece at a time and looking very carefully. After a few minutes, Chelsea asked her if there was anything wrong. Amy said, no, she was just trying to decide which one gift she would take for her son. When Chelsea explained that she got to take all of them, Amy broke down in tears. She couldn't believe that she would be able to give all of these gifts to her little boy.
KYLIE
All I want for Christmas...
Dressed in glamorous attire, and surrounded by friends and peers under the halo of twinkling lights, the atmosphere at one’s first prom and the anticipation leading up to it, culminate an intense excitement for most high school students. For Kylie and her friends, this excitement was almost incessable as they fantasized about what they believed would be a fairy tale night. Kylie had a secret though, she couldn't afford the crown jewel of the event, a prom dress, and this devastated her. So, when the Christmas Connection asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she wrote down a prom dress. Immensely saddened, the Christmas Connection knew they could not purchase a such a dress for Kylie as they allocate only $75 per youth for presents. However, after learning of Kylie’s circumstance, a college volunteer travelled home, and brought back her prom dress and gave it to the Christmas Connection. They carefully laid out the gown, and brought Kylie in to see it. She walked through the door, and was immediately stunned and brought to tears in joy. There was not a dry eye in the building as Kylie came out of the room modeling the dress.
JENNY AND BRIAN
Donated last year, needed help this year
Jenny and Brian are great parents with three children. Last year, Brian had a good job and enough money to pay for essentials and even some extras for their kids. They even donated to Christmas Connection to help other children out. Never in their wildest dreams did they think that Brian's company would file for bankruptcy. Jenny and Brian could barely make ends meet even though Jenny started working at Walmart and Brian took whatever work he could find. Still, this wasn't enough to provide Christmas gifts for their children. Brian and Jenny was so thankful to be able to turn to Christmas Connection of Jackson County so that their children would have new gifts under the tree.
In Honor of Mom
Debra Bennet
Debra Bennet was having a rough year, having gone through her mother’s death at the beginning of the year. It was hard to continue moving forward, but Debra did her best. One thing she struggled with was what to do with the money that friends had given her as a memorial of her mother. She wanted to do something special, that her mother would have appreciated. One day, she was flipping through the newspaper and came across an article about the Christmas Connection of Jackson County. The way the organization committed itself to helping as many children as possible struck Debra in a deep place. Immediately, she knew that her mother would have wanted to support this organization. She decided to give the money from the memorial to the Christmas Connection in her mother’s name. Now, every time Debra hears of the Christmas Connection, she thinks of her mother and it makes her feel at peace.
Christmas Spirit
A volunteer goes the extra mile
A mother looks through the gifts that are laid before her. A volunteer walking by stops to watch her, and notices a forlorn expression on her face. When the mother is asked what is wrong, she says that she was hoping to receive a pair of new shoes for her son. Upon learning that the Christmas Connection was not donating shoes that year, the volunteer bent down, untied his own shoes, and handed them to the mother. When asked what prompted this act of kindness, the volunteer said, “They needed them more than I did. It was the right thing to do.”
For Her Son
New Jeans
As the holiday season crept closer and closer, a mother watched her young fourteen-year-old son stare down at his ragged pants. His one and only Christmas wish was to own a new pair jeans. It pained her to know that she could not again afford such a gift this year. Then she arrived at the Christmas Connection pick up, and a pair of jeans lay before her. Immediately, tears filled her eyes as this would be her son’s first ever new pair of pants.