Hoosier Legion post joins Santa to deliver Merry Christmas

Santa may have traded in his reindeer for a helicopter but not his giving spirit as he, The American Legion and other veteran service organizations delivered much needed holiday cheer to Hoosier families recently.

At the second annual Spirit of Christmas event, 18 families of veterans and servicemembers had their season made a little brighter as they received more than 600 gifts at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds in Danville, Ind., Dec. 19.

“We came together in a two-month period and raised $15,000 for these families, and we got it done,” said Ralph “Zoc” Zoccolillo, Indiana Blue Star Salute Committee chairman and Post 145 member. “The sacrifices that they’ve made mean so much to all of us. This is to say thank you to them and to say Merry Christmas.”

The Indiana Blue Star Salute Committee was started more than a decade ago at Post 145 and has grown into its own nonprofit organization to support military families in need.

“Throughout the year, we take care of the families however we can,” explained Zoccolillo. “We are just a phone call away from helping any military member or veteran.”

This year’s event kicked off with Santa and Mrs. Claus flying in on a UH-1H Huey helicopter from the Indiana Air Search and Rescue organization, but that was far from the biggest Christmas surprise as one family was given a new vehicle along with a new-found hope.

“Our old car was on its last limb, and we were scared to drive it because we didn’t want to break down,” said Indiana National Guard Pvt. Austin Williams, C Company, 113th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) combat medic. Williams and his wife were both unemployed and the parents of three young girls, all under the age of 2 years old – the youngest of whom was born with a life-threatening condition.

“I was in basic training when (Ava) was born … and I was told she couldn’t move the whole left side of her body,” he recalled. “They think she had a stroke while she was in the womb.”

Williams said when his family found out they were nominated for the Spirit of Christmas event, they requested basic necessities to help them get by, such as infant rice cereal to help Ava not aspirate on her formula and a front wheel bearing for their car to take her to twice-a-week medical appointments.

“We heard that somebody requested some car parts for Christmas, but we didn’t have any extra car parts laying around, but we did have an extra (2002 Chevrolet) TrailBlazer,” said Michael Walker, a retired Air Force veteran and representative of Cars 4 Heroes, as he presented Williams with the keys to the vehicle.

Walker said Cars 4 Heroes is nonprofit organization in its 20th year that fixes donated cars and gives them to veterans in need.

“It’s great to be able to help these guys out, to make their lives better and help somebody else succeed,” he elaborated. “We don’t have a great mass transit system in Indiana, so you’ve got to own a vehicle to be able to go to the doctor, to get to a job or pick your kids up from school. You have to have a car to be able to succeed in life.”

While a sport utility vehicle may have been the largest physical gift, Williams said the biggest gift to his family was a peace that came with knowing they were going to have a Merry Christmas.

“I was really scared I was going to get them anything at all,” Williams tearfully recalled. “We got everything and more. It’s breathtaking. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Another Indiana Guardsman echoed that sentiment as she helped her children open their gifts.

“It means more than I could actually express with words,” said Sgt. Ashley McMann, 113th BSB legal noncommissioned officer. “It’s very heartwarming to see there are people out there willing to come together and help out servicemembers in need who are struggling.”

After coming off military orders, McMann said she found herself unemployed and supporting two young boys. She recently started a new job working for the Salvation Army, but had only been able to find temporary employment in the months prior.

“This year has been kind of hard for us,” she said. “It means the world to me that my kids can have a happy Christmas and actually got what they wanted instead of me having to piece everything together.

“I expected maybe a couple gifts, but nothing like what they have given us,” McMann continued. “They have given me a whole new look at the meaning of Christmas and coming together with the people in your community as fellow veterans and family members.”

Not to be overlooked, even some of the smallest gifts made a huge impact.

“The Dodd family’s little boy, (Mason), was going to open his first box, and before he did he looked at his dad and said all he wanted a pair of Spiderman sneakers,” recalled Zoccolillo. “And, what do you think that first gift was? It was a pair of Spiderman sneakers.”

Mason’s family was also given a set of desperately needed bunkbeds, said his father, Terrell Dodd, who was a former active duty Army power-generation equipment repairer.

“I don’t usually ask for help, but The American Legion has really helped us out,” explained the elder Dodd. “I’ll be able to keep my kids safe and warm and provide for them. For a single parent, it’s not easy.”

Helping veterans and their families in need, whether at Christmas or throughout the year, is what Bruce Curry, Indiana’s 6th District commander, said the Legion family is all about.

“The American Legion is not just a group of guys sitting around at a post – we’re out supporting our communities,” Curry explained. “If a veteran is in trouble, they can go to The American Legion, sit down with a post service officer and get the help they need.”

“This is why you have be a part of The American Legion … your brothers and sisters, your comrades that served, they’re still serving,” Zoccolillo added. “They may not have the uniform on today, but they continue to give, to take care of their community and to make sure these families have everything. It’s that Legion Family that brings all of this together.

“Christmas is alive,” he concluded. “This is a beautiful thing – to be able to take care of all these families who are hurting and to look at these kids’ faces and see the joy that we bring to them.”