Miracle on Church Street gives kids Merry Christmas
Published: December 22, 2005
Lorraine Anderson grew up in one of the poorest sections of Boston. Like many children, she dreamt of a festive and magical Christmas with presents, delicious food and a beautiful tree. For some, this dream came true. But for Anderson, it did not.
She grew up during the Depression, with no money for Christmas gifts or a family meal. No Santa. No wonderment of the season. These memories stayed with Anderson.
She vowed that no child in her community would have to face the holiday like she did.
In 1995, Anderson began to change the face of Christmas for Tucson’s underprivileged children. She started Miracle on Church Street and threw a party at the Tucson Convention Center.
“I started with 300 children visiting. I thought it was great,” says Anderson. This year, she served about 2,200 children on Dec. 17, at the 11th annual gathering.
The six-hour party offers underprivileged youth a chance to experience the magic of Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Claus arrive with the help of Tucson firefighters via fire truck. There’s plenty of ice cream, popcorn and snacks, plus face painting, jumping castles and coloring. Each child goes home with several toys.
And everything is free. But take a look behind the scenes of this massive holiday party, and you’ll see free is not the reality.
“Business people determined this would cost more than $63,000 if I had to pay for everything,” says Anderson. Corporate sponsors include Lisa Frank, Truly Nolen, Blue Bunny Ice Cream and Crosstown Traders. Donations are 90 percent in-kind goods. A private citizen pays the $4,000 TCC rental fee. A toy drive at Alberstons/Osco also helps.
Even so, Miracle on Church Street needs financial assistance. Some years have seen no surplus, or at most, $2,000.
Anderson, who turns 82 in April, expends a great deal of effort to raise money. “I send out hundreds of letters to every business, every bank, every person, every organization. Everyone knows me. I beg them to take a look at the Web site. Maybe they will understand why I need financial help.”
Anderson toils into the early morning hours at her desk, which is piled high with papers and envelopes that need to be mailed out. She sleeps about three hours a night and can field more than 50 phone calls a day. Without any steady volunteers to help during the year, she handles all administrative tasks.
And this doesn’t include Anderson’s work on the toys. Her garage is stacked with road-racing kits, blocks, Barbie dolls and bags of stuffed animals. She receives many plush toys from resale shops and washes each one. “I wash thousands of toys,” Anderson reports. She also repairs tattered ones–sewing holes, fixing hair, replacing bows–all with loving care. Listening to Anderson explain all of this was enough to bring a tear to my eye.
Anderson is clearly making a difference, as the city of Tucson named her Citizen of the Year in 2004. That same year, the Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona named her Volunteer of the Year.
But what’s most important to Anderson is the difference she makes with children’s health issues. “I get plastic bags and put in educational books about no smoking, no drinking, pencils, coloring books … and tie it tight. We give this gift bag to the mother or guardian, as children come from all local agencies. That bag is the most important thing I give away. It gets into that home. In there, someone may learn not to smoke or not to drink. That’s very important to me. If I help one person to stop that, it’s all worthwhile.”
What’s also important to Anderson is for people to understand the issue of poverty in Tucson. She says she has begged city and county officials to visit the underprivileged children at her annual event–to no avail. According to a city government report using data from the 2000 Census, 26 percent of Tucson children younger than 18 live below the poverty level. She says we all need to know this.
“If this happened to me when I was a child 75 years ago, and it’s still going on, it’s going to keep going on. … Please realize how important this 11-year program is. It’s a program that needs to be continued. It should be kept going so it’s there for the kids.”
• More information: www.tucsonmiracle.org
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: