Holiday Feel Good Stories: Rochester Miracle, Brighton Teacher's Legacy

Miracle in Rochester Hills: How One Family's Faith Gave Them a Cure

It was Christmastime six years ago when doctors diagnosed the Byrds' oldest son, Blase, with a type of cancer they said was incurable. Blase was 4 years old with only a slim chance he would live to see Christmas through the eyes of a 10-year-old.

Fenton Area Women Help Children at Whaley Center

A group of approximately 50 Fenton area friends are helping make Christmas brighter for kids at Whaley Children’s Center in Flint this year. They fulfilled the wish lists of a 10-year-old girl, Destiny, and an 11-year-old boy, Brenden, and purchased more items to help others at the children’s center. The gifts the group provided will help all 48 of the formerly abused and neglected children, ages 5-17, in the residential program at Whaley Children’s Center. The young people receive clinical therapy there.

American Girl Dolls Inspire Christmas Spirit

Sarah Cromer, of Brighton, and Stephanie Perkins, of Hartland, organized a donation effort to buy 26 American Girl Dolls for sick children, reported Hartland Patch. By the time the order for the American Girl dolls needed to placed, Cromer and Perkins had enough money for 26 dolls, some with hair, some without, and several accessories. And still, the donations kept coming, according to the women, so the money will be used to buy boy-themed gifts as well.

Handmade ornaments from an anonymous donor and sold at Kahuna Coffee, raised more that $1,500 for the Anderson family, and their son Michael, a Hartland High School sophomore battling cancer.

Many local children and seniors will have a gift on Christmas morning, courtesy of the 61st Community Wrap-In in Memory of Nancy Stockham.

Volunteers Fill Thanksgiving Baskets for Fenton Families in Need

Many hands made 95 Thanksgiving baskets fill quickly at the Fenton United Methodist Church’s Family Life Center last month. Volunteers helped unload food and other necessities and fill boxes for people in need. Later in the day, families visited to collect their baskets, which contained a turkey, potatoes, milk, stuffing, fruit and other trimmings for Thanksgiving dinner, as well as other food and necessities for them.

Brighton Teacher's Legacy Lives On Through Memorial Fund

Shelley Compton was an extremely giving and caring person to all who knew her. 

The much loved Brighton kindergarten and first grade teacher passed away in 1996. She spent some of her last days planning a fund to care for local children in need before even thinking about her own funeral, according to Suzanne Johnson, a friend and fellow Brighton teacher.