He and his family were returning home from a shopping trip to the mall when they saw a homeless woman, her two children, a man and his dog under a bridge. Their clothes were tattered and torn, and they had all their belongings in a shopping cart.
Even the dog was mangy and looked hungry.
“What will happen at Christmas?” Stephen asked his mother. “Will they get any toys?”
Probably not, his mom told him.
“I was sad about that,” says Stephen, now 11 and a sixth-grader. So he went home and searched the house for spare change.
He collected $35, divided the money into four plastic baggies, and then his family drove him back to the bridge, where he gave one bag of money to each of the four people.
“They were so thankful,” he recalls. “They said, ‘God bless you.’ The woman cried.”
That was the beginning of an annual family event to gather new toys for needy children during the holidays.
Stephen and his family have been selected to be featured in USA TODAY’s Holiday Heroes series — weekly stories about people who go to great lengths to serve others during the holidays and all year long. Their stories will appear in the paper and at usatoday.com each Thursday until Christmas.
Stephen’s family includes his dad, Jeff, who is in the oil and gas business, mom Kathryn and Mary Kate, 9, and Sam, 6.
For the Smiths, that Christmas seven years ago snowballed to something far bigger.
After Stephen came home from giving away the money, he asked his mom if there were other children who wouldn’t get toys for Christmas. She told him yes, there were needy children everywhere.
He suggested inviting his preschool class for a party and having them bring new toys. “I think every child should get at least one toy for Christmas,” Stephen says.
Although he was just 4, “the whole thing was his idea,” Kathryn says. “In no way did we prod him along on this. He is a very unique child. He is wise beyond his years.”
For the past seven years, the family has hosted an annual Christmas party with guests bringing new toys, which the family then gives to the Salvation Army to distribute.
The guest list at the parties includes their friends, all the students in Stephen’s grade, as well as the classmates of his siblings.
Last year, they collected 300 to 350 toys and $3,500. This year, they want to break their own record and collect 500 toys.
They encourage guests to stretch themselves and buy more than one gift or even a bike if they can afford it.
“Last year we had five bikes, and all the kids wanted the bikes,” Kathryn says.
For the first time last Christmas, the Smith family was able to help distribute the toys.
Sometimes the gifts were as small as a coloring book and crayons, but the children were so grateful to have anything, Kathryn says. “I can’t tell you how many kids cried.”
Says Stephen: “One kid came and hugged my dad so tight. He just got something small, but he said it was the nicest thing he’d every gotten.
“I am thankful for what I have,” he says, “and grateful that there are people out there who help others.”
Story is from USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/mind-soul/doing-good/2010-12-09-holidayherostephen09_ST_N.htm
Stories like Stephen should inspire you to do something GOOD. If you can read this you probably are in a position to do something good, why not?