Families Get Help in the “Nick” of Time

Happy New Year from the Windermere Foundation!

Judy Curran, Foundation Rep for our Madison Park office, sent me a story about how they helped a couple families in desperate need of a little holiday cheer. Please be sure to click on the link to an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer about one of the families.

Madison Park Office Christmas Families 2008

The agents at the Madison Park Office enriched their Christmas by making Christmas better for not one, but two families in need. The Collins family consisted of a single Mom and five children from seven months old to ten years old. Living on section 8, their sparsely furnished home contained very little furniture and no Christmas tree or presents. The Crichton family was a Mom and Dad and seven children! The Dad had suffered a near fatal heart attack and had been in a coma for over a month and is still regaining brain and mobility functions. He was featured on the front page of the Seattle PI on Christmas day as a Christmas heart-warming story. Being the bread-winner of the family, they were experiencing an extreme financial crisis.

In this year of lack, our agents outdid themselves with presents for the children and parents, bringing bicycles, helmets, and lots of pretty wrapped presents. To make their Christmas even fuller we provided more presents and food from our foundation money.

The week of snow prior to Christmas presented its own challenges. Our foundation rep and husband were fortunate to have a four-wheel-drive vehicle and spent the days before Christmas running around buying additional gifts and clothing. Because of the snow the two families had been unable to get food in the house, so bags of groceries were purchased and delivered to very appreciative Mothers. Imagine how much food is needed to feed families of this size, especially the Crichton family, where most of the kids are teenagers!

Both families were overwhelmed with the generosity of our Windermere Agents and the kids were ecstatic to have presents from Santa. Mom Crichton cried and four of her daughters sang the “Santas” a song in harmony. Pictures were taken and hugs went all around.

Unfortunately, Santa was late with a good camera for our foundation rep, and her old camera took terrible pictures, so you will just have to imagine these beautiful pictures and the open hearts of all involved!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/393609_medic25.html

I hope 2009 is filled with peace, joy and good health. Oh… and prosperity, too!

Christine Wood