While we never want to see tragedy in our lives, sometimes those tragic events can lead to a positive that affects so many people. While that positive can be difficult for the person touched by sadness, it can bring out the best in the same person who just wants others to not have to go through what they went through to the extent they went through it.
Mark Miller lost his 7-year-old daughter Mary Beth in 2013 after being in and out of the hospital for a large portion of her life. Miller knows how much spending the holidays either being in or visiting someone in the hospital can be difficult and painful.
That’s why the Children’s of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, along with Miller and Ace Hardware, performed a Christmas miracle for the kids.
According to Fox News:
Miller sought the help of his Ace Hardware colleagues from 30 different stores and, together, they delivered more than 340 trees to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham on Dec. 5.
The day was made even more magical for the children with the arrival of Santa and the addition of fake snow. Those who were not well enough to make it down to the Christmas tree farm had the trees brought to them.
How wonderful! The children were allowed to pick their own tree and decorate them with homemade ornaments as they saw fit.
Putting up and decorating a Christmas tree may seem like a chore to many. But it definitely looks as though it helped some of the kids forget about the pain caused by their respective afflictions and from being in a hospital during the holidays — at least for a little while.
“My hope is, for this, is that they get another Christmas,” Miller heartbreakingly said with tears in his eyes. “And I know there’s a possibility that one of these trees will be the last one some kid gets.”
Miller may have lost his daughter — and he deserves a very Merry Christmas as well — but her memory allowed so many children to have a smile put on their faces.
Children’s of Alabama posted a video of the event to their YouTube channel. Watch below: