On Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, thieves — called “grinches” in the local secular media — carried off hundreds of toys that had been collected for Catholic Charities. The unwrapped gifts were left in the unlocked vestibule of the church near the parish “angel tree.”
Church secretary Nancy Burton had several people stop by during that day to ask if the parish was giving away free toys. She said the same thing to all the askers: No, these gifts were collected by parishioners to give to Catholic Charities for distribution.
Later, however when it was discovered most of the toys that had been under the tree were missing, parish employees notified the police. The story broke in the local media the next day and people began to respond in a big way.
WYMG radio morning personalities Liz Willis and Sean Lynch, known on the air as Lynch and Liz, met with Catholic Charities Community Services supervisor Carol Harms on Dec. 9. They presented Harms with $1,000 through the WYMG’s Christmas Wish Program.
“All the money (for the Christmas Wish donations) comes from WYMG listeners that we collect through our annual golf outing and the All Request Marathon Broadcast,” said Willis. “Each year, we do a ‘wish’ each weekday during the month of December through the 24th, using that money. The parameters are that the recipient has to have demonstrated giving to and helping others in the past and it must be a one-time need.
“We always do a ‘group’ wish and decided this year that the toys would be a good one,” she said. “We met with Carol Harms and presented her with $1,000 cash, because I knew it would be just one more step to cash a check. When Lynch and I went we were fortunate to run into others who were there with toys, including some lovely ladies from the Secretary of State’s office who responded after reading the article.”
Burton says she was in tears when people who had heard the sad story began streaming into the parish office with donations of cash and gifts. The parish also ran an additional toy collection on Friday, Dec. 11 that brought in three more truckloads of toys.
“I would say we ended up with 1,500 to 2,000 toys that came not only just from Springfield but surrounding communities,” she said. “We had a lot of monetary contributions, too. Somebody brought in their $100 Christmas bonus; a little girl brought her piggy bank; and one corporate office decided not have their office party but will give those funds to Catholic Charities.”
Several people returned to Little Flower, stating they had taken some of the toys, but were returning them — leaving people at the parish wondering if all the thefts were intentional. Within a few hours of the theft, Msgr. Ossola helped one unknown woman unload the toys that she said she was returning. She apologized for taking them, saying, “We didn’t know, we didn’t know.”
Msgr. Ossola admits he was naturally upset when the gifts were taken, but would rather look at the upside of the situation. The parish ended up collecting hundreds of more toys for Catholic Charities than they would have otherwise. “I was amazed and overwhelmed at the generosity of people from all over the area. It was just overwhelming,” he said.
Catholic Charities Community Service Programs distributed the gifts, along with food baskets, to families who had gone through a special intake process. The Holiday Store, held Dec. 15 and 16 at the former St. Cabrini School, allowed parents to walk through and choose several gifts for each child in their household.