Stories

Christmas Shopping 2024

I want to start this story by thanking all the business, groups, and individuals that have raised funds for the Shannon Wilker Foundation. It has been a very successful year, and we are beyond grateful to everyone that has done so much for their community. I also want to thank our Board of Directors for all of their direction, support, and encouragement. Most of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Kristi. My new job has required more of my time, so she has taken over the majority of the responsibilities of the Foundation. She is doing an incredible job, and I am so grateful to her not just for that, but for everything she does for myself and our family.

Each year we work with the local Cancer Institutes, to get names of families and their lists for Christmas. It always amazes me when we get a list that says Mom & Dad don’t really need anything, they would just like their children to be able to open a gift.

Kristi went through all the lists, and decided we could get more presents and save money if she ordered as much as she could online during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. She spent several hours making sure they were the best deals, and it was exactly what they were asking for. I am always impressed with her commitment to have everything right for the people who will be opening the gifts.

We saved some of the names so we could go shopping at Walmart. I have always said there is nothing better than Christmas shopping with someone else’s money! The day before we were going to do the shopping, we found out there was a family that was not submitted to us. We had already planned the numbers of families for our budget. We knew we had to make sure to include them since they were already planning on our support. It has been my experience that circumstances like this always have a way of working themselves out.

On the day we went shopping, we agreed everyone would meet in front of Customer Service at Walmart. We had most of our group lined up with shopping carts waiting for the rest to show up. While we were waiting, a supervisor came up and asked us who we were shopping for. We explained the Foundation and that we were shopping for families dealing with cancer. He told us that Walmart allows him to donate money to worthy charities, and offered to donate that amount towards to total of our bill. The amount they gave us was enough to cover the expense of the extra family. I must admit, that brought a joyful tear to my eyes, and the others as well. When I said previously that things always have a way of working out, this is the fastest example of that I have ever had.

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and spend quality time with your loved ones. Thanks for reading.

P.S. If you’re filling out a Christmas list, please give more details than the dad would like some clothes. Otherwise, you will probably get a John Deere cap and T-shirt.

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