Mike’s Musing- Christmas Wish Program

Over 50 receive Christmas Wishes

 

This edition we highlight some of the many letters we received this past month from friends and neighbors in Clare County, who have found 2009 to be an extremely tough year.

Thanks to many businesses and individuals in the community, we were able to grant wishes to over 50 families. Some of the wishes were as simple as a Christmas dinner, while others were much more complex and took a lot of time and effort to fulfill.

Someone said to me the other day that Christmas is for children and adults should not be the focus of our program. Although I concur in theory, we found it to be the adults that have basically fallen through the cracks of the system. Children for the most part are taken care of. There are dozens of organizations that provide for children- not so with adults.

That is why some of the more interesting wishes that we fulfilled were for adults. For instance we spent a great deal of time trying to find an apartment or home for a homeless man and his girlfriend from Farwell.

For weeks they had been living in vacant homes and apartment corridors simply to escape the cold and snow. It was interesting to me- even though they sought help from several government agencies, they essentially were denied housing. We were able to provide him with first month’s rent and a security deposit.

Then there is the Coleman man who has no electricity, heat or running water. Although we couldn’t fix all his problems- I’m not sure I’ve encountered a more hopeless situation, we were able to fill his tank with nearly $600 worth of propane. Additionally relatives came through to get his electricity turned on. Maybe this Christmas will be better than the previous two for this unfortunate individual.

Another special wish went to a man who is driving a 1988 Ford Truck. He delivers for Meals on Wheels, and many senior depend on him weekly. His truck, which has 486,000 miles (YES you heard it right- 486,000 original miles, was in need of major repairs. Thanks to the help of local businesses and individuals, we were able to get the man’s truck back on the road.

Our hearts really went aflutter when we met a 23-year-old paraplegic man in Farwell. The young man had fallen out of his deer blind in early November. The perfectly healthy individual is now paralyzed from the chest down without possibility of recovery. We visited him- showering his 1 ½ year old daughter with a dozen gifts.

But we felt so bad about his situation, we decided to re-build the handicap ramp that led in to his mobile home. The family had asked that we do this because the sheets of plywood that made up the floor of the ramp were partially rotted and they were concerned the wheelchair would fall through, causing more problems.

That said, dozens of children received all kinds of gifts including winter coats and clothes, PS2 players, video games, toys and food.

For the most part, recipients were extremely grateful. However, we were taken aback by some reactions. After providing a family with a gift certificate to a local grocery store, the wife called up complaining that she didn’t need food. Funny in her letter requesting help, she asked no once, but three times for food. She said, instead, she wanted help paying for a funeral.

Then there was the lady that wrote to us three weeks after the deadline for letters had closed. She said she had heard about our program and wouldn’t we help her with clothes for her children. We said we would check in to it. A couple days later she wrote again asking for a new car. Can you believe the nerve—–!!!!! Consequently, she got nothing.

AGAIN, I need to thank all those who have helped us along the way. Literally hundreds of businesses and individuals came forward to provide money and services to the dozens of families we helped. Happy Holidays to All!!!