Angie’s Heart – Christmas 2015

After my sister passed away in 2008, my mom wanted a way to remember her and also, she needed a way to handle her grief during the holidays. Mom works in WV sometimes and found a precious little school where the children receive little if anything for Christmas.  This is our 2nd year blessing these babies with Christmas….. Below is the blog post I wrote sharing our amazing experience.  Enjoy!

This year, we went back to our sweet little school in WV.

We contacted the school requesting the names of those who have the greatest needs and we were provided with 9 children.  We then gathered friends that wanted to help create a Christmas for the children selected.  We could not have made this dream a reality without the help of each person below.  Each person took a child’s name and purchased Christmas for them. One of our secret Santa shoppers was kind enough to buy for two children.  Along with the gifts, the children received delicious cupcakes too!

From Left to right:

Marlene & AL, Eric & Bonnie, Caryn & Joe

Amy, Michelle, Misty

Josh & Elanie, Jamie & Jimmy, Michelle & Bo

We received a generous  donation of $500! Hershey and others donated candy to fill the stockings – YUM!

Thanks to RKC, we were able to put buckets out for those who wanted to donate spare change.  With this, we collected almost $500!!!!

Always remember, your spare change can change someone’s life!

We wanted to do something special for everyone at the school so each child and staff member received a stocking filled with amazing chocolate goodness – and maybe just maybe those stuffing ate a few too. A note was placed on each stocking to explain why “Angie’s Heart” was created. The note has two pictures of Angie with a picture of a heart that Angie painted. Little did sis know that painting would travel into the homes of many children as a symbol of her love.

Once all the gifts were collected and stockings filled, it was time to hit the road for our grand delivery.  Crazy how things can change in 1 year.  In 2014, there were a few packages in the back seat of a car.  In 2015, we had to load the back of a pick-up truck  to deliver the gifts.

Good things grow!

The ride took a little over 3 hours.  It was beautiful! And it was far away from everything. I think the nearest mall is 1 hour away.  There is no jumping in the car for a quick Starbucks trip or running to Wal-Mart for milk and toilet paper.  Here, you better stock up while you are in town.

Finally, we arrived at the school.  It’s a little school that contains around 34 students total. When we walked in we were greeted by all the children as they were heading out to play.  One child was in trouble when we arrived and we giggled as we waited. I loved the little wooden stairs before you get to the principles office.  I wonder if the children will remember those stairs when they are older. There is one hallway that contains all the classes for all grades K-5. The play ground is out front and all the kids in all grades play together.  My 7yr old daughter went with us and after she helped carry gifts inside, she went to play outside with the kids.  As we were leaving she said, “Mommy, all these kids are so kind.” How precious….

Quickly, the gifts were snuck inside so they would not see them as we wanted it to be a surprise. Tucked in a little closest, we filled it full of gifts and goodies.

To make the gifts personal to each person next year, we asked for specific things the kids like. Much to our surprise, a teacher informed us that the children simply don’t know what’s out there to know what to ask for.  Their list is truly things they need – clothes.  Some had baby dolls and others fishing poles.  The requests were simple yet so sweet.

We were delighted when told we could meet the children.  The teachers gathered them from the play ground and into the main hallway.  The teachers asked them to move close for pictures. Not knowing who we were or why we were there, some thought my daughter would be a new student. We never did tell. We figured they would know soon enough why we were there.

We took the standard pictures, 1. 2. 3. cheeeeeeeeeeeese.  But if you know me……..

You know we must take silly pictures.  Some of the kids jumped in for the fun, yet a few had their guard up.  They were precious as they looked to a friend to make sure they too were being silly.  Yet some simply would not budge. (Look at that sweet grumpy face below)

Once pictures were over the kids were allowed back outside to play. We chatted with the teachers and were told  just that morning they were informed a few children would not be receiving any gifts this year for Christmas.  Our hearts broke!  We then asked if the kids on our list were those children and they were!  The gifts that were bought for those specific children, a teacher is doing a special delivery on Christmas Eve so they will indeed have something to open Christmas morning.  What a beautiful act of service she is doing. I could not wait to tell the secret Santa shoppers for that child how special those gifts were going to be.  One secret Santa shopper said when she and her husband shopped, they asked themselves, “If these were the only gifts our son got for Christmas, would it be enough?” Little did they know their gifts would be the only gifts this year.

With the generous donation we received, mom decided to go beyond the students and we contacted the school again for a list of siblings names. This year, we purchased gifts for both the student and their sibling!

It is with great joy that we get to extend Angie’s Heart to those precious babies.  Our hope is that they too will pay it forward…..

To all who helped us – THANK YOU!!!! We love you and appreciate you more than you will ever know.

*If you would like to be apart of Angie’s Heart – 2016 please e-mail: inmemoryofangiepowell@gmail.com.