Midwest
The only way to truly feel the Christmas spirit
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Christmas in Chicago is a beautiful thing to see. You can feel the Christmas spirit when you pass through the Loop down Michigan Ave at night. All the department stores are lit up. You can feel the spirit when you drive through the many townships that make up Chicagoland. Some of those lit up trees in public squares warm your spirit.
You can feel the Christmas spirit in my neighborhood where even those with modest means find the money to string lights around their windows. Rich or poor, down or up, left or right, the spirit of Christmas unites us all and remind us that this is the time of neighborly love, family love, and the birth of Jesus who brought so much love into this world.
For me, the spirit of Christmas touched me this year earlier than most. A few days after Thanksgiving, I received a box in the mail at my church. You could tell that the cardboard box had been used many times before by the softness of its feel. Even the tape felt reused.
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I opened it up and I saw a handwritten note on top of a garbage bag. The note read: “Dear Pastor, I am from Arkansas, and I follow what you’re doing in your community. I don’t have much but I hope what I can provide helps.”
The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a pair of snow boots. I looked for the size and saw it was a size 6. Just days earlier, I had overheard one of the single moms who works two jobs saying she needed boots to get her son ready for the winter. He is a size 5 — close enough. I said a prayer thanking this stranger from Arkansas as I pulled out the rest of her gifts to my community.
I tell the kids in my program, when you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.
I give so much of myself to my community but I have never thought to give to a stranger in a far-off land. The time and thought she put into this gift was a beautiful thing and her generosity touched me.
Tech gifts can make a big impression on your loved ones. (iStock)
As it turns out, her gift was the first of many.
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The next day I came to church there were several more boxes. They were from California, New Jersey, and two from Arizona. There were also two letters containing donations. All of these givers wanted to help my community. In their letters they said they had heard me on television or read one of my Rooftop Revelations articles for FoxNews.com
I asked several teens to help me carry the gifts to the sorting room and I told them, “See how all these strangers want to help us? They’re all from out of state. Have you ever thought of helping someone so far away? That’s why if they believe in you that much, you have no choice but to learn how to believe in yourself. Then maybe one day you will pay forward these good deeds.”
The next day, I received even more boxes and donations. I had to ask for more volunteers to sort these beautiful gifts — we had piles of sweaters, socks, underwear, shirts, pants, and shoes. All of them new. And so many from people of modest means who could have brought something nice for themselves.
Their kindness reminded me of Proverbs 19:17 (NIV): “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.”
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When it came time to dole out these gifts, I reminded the children that this is the season of giving. I told them that one of the gifts came from a house cleaner who drove forty miles to drop off a box of socks. She gave out of the goodness of her heart and was very modest when I tried to thank her.
I told the children they were blessed to have that woman and so many strangers think of them. It is a blessing to receive, I told them, but they should also think of how to give.
I could see some of them averting their eyes from mine in shame. I told them that I knew many of them felt they had nothing to give but I told them that was not true. You have yourself to give. When you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.
We may feel the Christmas spirit when the red and green lights come on, when the scent of freshly cut Christmas trees is in the air, and when Santa sits in his big red chair. But one cannot truly feel the Christmas spirit unless one gives.
To all of those of you that gave to my youths so generously, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I wish you a very merry Christmas.
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Illinois
Man buys winning $1.3 million jackpot ticket at suburban gas station
OSWEGO, Ill. (WLS) — A Chicago-area man claimed a $1.3 million jackpot prize during an ordinary stop at a local gas station.
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The newly-minted millionaire said he bought the ticket while stopping to buy a drink.
“‘Why not?’” the winner said. “I played a Quick Pick, and it turned out to be a lucky day.”
His ticket matched all five numbers in the Thursday, June 11 evening Lucky Day Lotto drawing. The winning numbers were 1-13-19-27-35.
The ticket was purchased at Oswego BP, located at 2791 US Highway 34.
Overjoyed, he wasted no time sharing the big news with his wife.
“She was thrilled,” he said. “It’s funny-I actually won a $45,000 prize playing this same game 15 years ago when it was called Little Lotto.”
The winner plans to use the prize money to buy a new house and secure his and his wife’s retirement.
For selling the, the Oswego BP will receive a bonus of $13,000.
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Indiana
‘Foul play’ suspected in death investigation on Indiana-Ohio state line, Wayne County officials say
WAYNE COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — Police are investigating the death of a person who died in the emergency department of Reid Health in Richmond.
Wayne County Coroner Brent Meadows was notified of the death Wednesday evening, according to a media release. Evidence has reportedly indicated that foul play is involved.
Officials believe the incident may have occurred in the area of the Petro Travel Center in New Paris, Ohio, just across the Indiana-Ohio state line.
The coroner’s office said the deceased person has been transported to the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, for a forensic autopsy and identification.
The office is still working the locate and identify the victim’s family.
This remains an active investigation.
News 8’s Michaela Springer contributed to this report.
Iowa
New Iowa program aims to remove barriers to family support
Thrive Iowa launches in Warren County and across the state
The new program aims to reduce barriers to families seeking help from local organizations.
Thrive Iowa, a new initiative from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, has officially launched in a number of counties across the state with the goal of helping struggling Iowa families connect with local resources and build a network of support in their community.
On June 23, Warren County celebrated its own program site launch as one of eight initial sites. Other counties that are celebrating their own site launches are Cass, Lee, Black Hawk, Webster, Buena Vista, Fayette and Clayton. A site is officially launched once it has enrolled a minimum of 20 participants, Iowa HHS Director of Communications Danielle Sample said in a statement.
The eight sites serve 11 counties in total, with services also available in Henry, Madison, and Van Buren counties, according to the Thrive Iowa website.
What is Thrive Iowa?
The initiative is focused on serving families, such as parents, caretakers, and pregnant individuals, according to the program’s website. To be eligible to receive help from the program, families must be living in Iowa, be a U.S. citizen or legal resident, and have an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
The 2026 federal guidelines consider a family of four to be at the 200% threshold if they make $66,000 or less annually.
The program also outlines 13 core areas of well-being where it offers support. These include housing, recovery, employment, transportation, education, mental health, physical health, safety, dental, financial stability, food, child care and legal assistance.
The overall goal of the program is to reduce barriers to accessing support for families by doing the work of finding the right organization to meet their needs for them. Instead of having to reach out to multiple sources, a family can visit the program’s HopeHub, a case management system, to create a free account and receive a referral. Once referred, the individual is connected with a Thrive Navigator who will create a personalized plan and build local connections to assist the family.
Thrive Iowa is modeled after Restore Hope, an Arkansas-based nonprofit that began in 2015 to reduce the number of individuals in incarceration and the foster care system through community-based approaches. In addition to Iowa, this model is also used in Tennessee and Canada, according to the organization’s website.
The Iowa program plans to expand to other counties in the near future, Sample said. In July, Iowa HHS will begin onboarding more participating organizations and counties, expanding the program to serve 22 counties.
Warren County launch pledges to take families from crisis to careers
At the Warren County launch, the county’s initiative coordinator, Sarah Downard, was joined by Iowa State Rep. Brooke Boden, Ben Segebart, senior pastor at Indianola Freedom Fellowship Church, Sue Wilson, executive director of WeLIFT Job Search Center in Indianola, and Paul Chapman, executive director of Restore Hope.
Downard said the Warren County site is currently serving over 20 families.
To a room of around 75 community members and local organizations at The Hive event venue in Indianola, the five speakers emphasized the importance of the mission behind Thrive Iowa, which is collective impact and helping build strong communities through supporting the families that live there.
The group also invited the whole room to sign the site’s declaration of participation in the program, which stated the goals of the program and a pledge to work together to help take families from crisis to career.
“When families are struggling, we feel the impact everywhere,” Boden said. “We see this in our schools, our health care systems, our workplace, and our communities.”
Isabelle Foland is a communities reporter for the Register. Reach her at ifoland@registermedia.com.
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