After the unexpected passing of her son in 1990, Helen Wiggins was grief-stricken but also touched by the love and support she received from friends, family, and neighbors. She was so touched that she decided she would return these kindnesses by being even more generous with others. Over the last three decades, she has found myriad ways to express this generosity. For example, in recent years, she would purchase small Christmas gifts, which she would wrap and randomly distribute to families of children around Fort Wayne. The families were always surprised and touched by this unexpected act of kindness.
In 2019, as she drove past Martin Luther King Montessori School, Helen decided that, instead of giving her gifts away at random, she wanted to donate them to the students in need at the school. She contacted Greta McKinney, the Executive Director, who warmly welcomed her support. Each year, MLK works diligently to support the needs of the families they serve, especially around the holidays. To do this, MLK staff members work with the Allen County Christmas Bureau as well as the school's vendors to provide food, clothing, essential household items, and gifts to families who are struggling or in crisis situations.
This year, Helen, now 77, decided she wanted to give a gift to every child at MLK. To be sure she could succeed in this monumental undertaking, it was all the way back in January that Helen began her now year-round effort. Over the last eleven months, she has purchased and collected gently used children’s toys, which she sanitized and, when necessary, freshened up. She even enlisted a friend with a talent for woodworking to build doll furniture, which Helen then painted and decorated.
When we spoke with Helen, she pointed out that she never started her Christmas gift giving for the acknowledgement. “If you’re doing things to be recognized, you shouldn’t be doing them.” When asked why she feels compelled to give in this way, Helen told us, “It just warms up my heart up to know that this Christmas morning, these children are going to open these gifts. It’s very important to me.”
It doesn’t only warm Helen’s heart, though. It brings Christmas cheer to the students at MLK and truly inspires the staff. Greta shared, “To have someone like Helen, who doesn’t even know our students but wants to make sure they have a Christmas gift, it just proves that angels still walk among us.”
