If You Have a Little Extra This Christmas

[Guest Phantom6]

Sharon (my wife) and I recently stumbled across a disabled couple in Anderson County* that just this past week returned from Illinois with their three grandchildren ages 5, 7 & 8 (boys on each end and a girl in the middle). It seems that they were summoned by the neighbor of the children's parents (their daughter and the children's father) who was keeping the children since the crack-head father had taken off and was on the run from the law and the drug addicted mother who had recently attempted suicide was ordered by the court there into rehab and mental health care. In this rescue, they literally picked these grandchildren up with nothing but the clothes on their backs and what they had with them at the neighbor's house.

My wife and I are trying to provide some sort of Christmas for not only the children but for their grandparents as well. We have gotten together a food basket for them and are working with the grandparents to get the legal situation worked out through DHS and the Anderson Count Juvenile Court system but the kids just aren't going to have anything at all for Christmas unless folks in the community can help as it is too late to get them involved in angle tree projects etc. We have called and emailed several news talk radio shows who are in the process of making announcements today and are asking all of our friends in the local area to take an age appropriate gift either wrapped or unwrapped by Charlie’s Knives and Guns in Oak Ridge at 154 Talmeda Rd. Sharon and I will pick anything dropped off there and deliver it out to the family on Christmas eve.

If you live locally in the Knoxville area and have a little extra for Christmas and if you can make the sacrifice, any assistance would help these poor children through a most difficult time in their lives. If you just can’t make the trip to Oak Ridge but would like to contribute a toy, some hand-me-down clothes or something, call me and I’ll come pick it up.

If you have any questions or need more information regarding this, please contact me

Mike Crow

Austin's Tennessee Firearms School

mcrow@firearmsclasses.com

865.483.1108

969 Oak Ridge Turnpike #227, Oak Ridge, TN 37830-8832

* As the children's father is still not in custody and has threatened harm to the children and the grandparents as well I would not wish to provide any more location or other identifying information to the public.

[Mike.357]

God bless you Mike, you and your wife are good people.

[dralarms]

Mike,

Send you an email, Need an answer if you can.

[Guest dotsun]

What are Charlie's hours this weekend?

[Guest Phantom6]

What are Charlie's hours this weekend?

Charlie will be open from 1000 to 1900 on Saturday. Unsure about Sunday but he'll be open 1000to 1800 on Christmas Eve. If anyone needs extended hours or needs me to come pick anything up, call my office line (865.483.1108) any time from 0900-2100 (0900-1900 Christmas Eve) and I'll meet you. His shop is next to our classroom which is only a few blocks from my home.

Several have asked me about sizes and I now have them:

• 5 year old boy- Pants- 6 slim, Shirts- 6-7
  
• 7 year old girl- Pants- 8 slim, Shirts- 7-8
  
• 8 year old boy- Pants- 14, Shirts- 12-14

Don't worry about wrapping unless you just want to because Sharon and I have bought a bunch of extra wrapping paper and plan to wrap each and every one of the gifts because at these ages, half the fun was for our children and is for our grandchildren, tearing the paper off to begin with.

God bless each and every one that has responded to this request for assistance with the calls, PM's, emails and posts asking what they may do to ease these children through this most difficult time in their lives which comes at a time of the year that should be their happiest. Not everyone is in a position either geographically or financially to provide assistance. If you find yourself in that boat please if you are inclined, say a prayer for this family in turmoil.

BTW dotson, I finally got that thing in the mail to you today. I carried it around in my darned brief case for several days. Sorry.

[Guest dotsun]

And here I've been running out to the mailbox to greet the mailman each day.

[dralarms]

Bringing this back to the top just in case there is someone else that can help a little with this.

Mike,

I hope things go well.

[Guest Phantom6]

I am certainly proud to be a participant on this board with folks like y’all. Though we made the announcement in several different types of media, the folks of TGO and some others in the gun community that we know were the only ones to step up and offer assistance to this family in providing these children of unfortunate circumstance a very Merry Christmas.

The grandparents were sure that the only thing that these poor children would be getting for Christmas this year was going to be their love which is certainly the most important gift they could provide but pretty darned disappointing if you are 5, 7 or 8 and all the other kids living along the road they now call home are greeted with new toys on Christmas morning. It’s also pretty darned disheartening if you are the grandparent of children in these circumstances and can not afford to provide something more tangible in the children’s eyes than a single meager toy. Well, thanks the generosity of some folks on TGO these children had the most wonderful Christmas that they had ever had.

We arranged for the kids to visit with Santa (Charlie of Charlie’s Knives and Guns in Oak Ridge) on Sunday evening before Christmas and have their photos taken. This was Sharon’s and my gift to the grandparents and maybe some day to the mother if she ever gets straightened out enough to know or care. This was one of the few times that the two oldest children had ever visited Santa and was a first for the youngest, 5 year old Austin. Below is a group photo of all three of them.

Christmas Eve afternoon us elves (our grandchildren, my wife and I) made sure that everything had batteries installed or supplied, wrapped the gifts which y’all so thoughtfully provided and added our stuff to the loot. We marked three of our gifts (one to each child) from our grandchildren, my wife and I and the rest from Santa. About 7 PM we loaded up the van and drove on out to their house where some of us carried the three gifts into the house while I loaded… er, ah…more appropriately, crammed the bulk of the presents into the back of grandma and grandpa’s car so that they could “appear magically†under the tree from Santa while the children slept. My wife had purchased a big hard bound edition of Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 classic “A Visit from Saint Nicolas†better known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas†and that was read with the children sitting around the little tree. Afterwards, the real reason for the season, the story of Christmas and the birth of Christ was told to the children. Grandma and Grandpa as well as my wife and I were in tears as we hugged the little ones good night and wished them a merry Christmas.

Grandma and Grandpa called and told us that the scene Christmas morning was absolute pandemonium and had continued to be so all that day and as we learned in subsequent calls, today as well. The children called about two hours ago and each one of them got on the phone and thanked us for the 3 gifts that our grandchildren, Sharon and I gave them Christmas Eve. I’m passing that thank you along to those who were in a position to provide such a wonderful Christmas for these loving innocent children. I told the kids that they needed to make sure that they were good for their grandparents and to say a prayer for their mother each and every night and be sure to thank Santa the next time they saw him. They assured me that they would be good and pray for their mom and the little girl assured me that they would all say a prayer for Santa too (I’ll interject a reminder here that that’s you folks at TGO). You now have three little angels praying for you. God bless you every one.

[Guest Phantom6]

bump

[Guest c.a.s.]

I propose that a Moderator sticky this!

[Guest SUNTZU]

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." What a beacon in their time of darkness, phantom...these children will remember you and yours at all times of their lives. This spirit shown by all who gave is what makes this community, state, and country so great to live in. God bless you and keep you.

[Mike.357]

y'all are something else.

[Guest canynracer]

...Thanks for getting me crying like a baby...