Christmas Jars Story: 'A lot of lives were touched through this experience'

Claymont, DE:

During Christmas 2010 I was shopping in the book store and saw the book Christmas Jar by Jason. I bought it and began to read it. I could not put it down, it was such an amazing story. So I began my own Christmas jar on Dec. 26, 2010. I began to put coins in it and watched it fill up over time as the year went on. So when it came time for me to give it to someone I could not figure out who needed it. My Mom told me about a single parent who had a fire at her home and her two children were injured in the fire and still in the hospital. A local supermarket was collecting monetary donations to help the victims of the fire. My Mom suggested that I give the Christmas jar to the family.

At first, I was not certain I should give it to the supermarket because I wanted it to be given to someone directly. My Mom encouraged me to give it to them. So she went to the store and took my Christmas jar to turn in as a donation and was told that the supermarket was no longer accepting donations at that location. There was a location however that would accept it but it is further away from where I live.

The next thing that happens is what becomes the miracle of this jar. My Mom sees my pastor at the store shopping and describes the situation to her and she says that she will take the money to the other location because she is actually going to be going there very soon. So the pastor takes the jar and then plans to drop it off. However she is running late the next day and asks another member of the church to take the jar to the supermarket. She explained the entire story about the Christmas jar and how the money will help the victims of the fire.

So here is the amazing ending to this story...the woman takes the jar into the service desks and explains that she wants to donate the money to the victims of the fire and then the manager makes a call. Suddenly the next thing that happens is that a woman walks up to the counter. The manager indicates that she is the mother of the children who were injured in the fire.

The person with the Christmas jar explains about how the jar is coins that were collected all year and then given to someone in need. So the jar was given directly to the mother and she began to cry. The woman giving her the jar began to cry and everyone just felt amazed by the power of the jar. I heard the story when the pastor told us and of course I began to cry.

Today is Christmas 2011. I will begin my second jar tomorrow on Dec. 26th, 2011. I can't wait to see what happens next year. It was truly meant to be that we gave that money to the family and they did feel blessed to receive it and I felt blessed in giving it. A lot of lives were touched through this experience.