KEWANEE–By her own admission, Amber Troxell is seldom speechless…that was until an anonymous Christmas angel swooped in and paid for all 79 tags on the Christmas tree at Walmart Saturday.

“It hasn’t happened very often,” Troxell shared with her fellow members of the Wethersfield Board of Education at their November meeting Thursday. “But this time I was speechless!”

Troxell said she and Heather Dana set up the tree, as they do each year, inside the north entrance of the Kewanee Walmart on Friday for Patchy’s Red, White and Blue Christmas Toy Drive which started on Saturday.

On the tree were hung tags for 79 “angels,” children in the community in need of gifts this Christmas. On the back of each tag is listed a specific toy and a clothing item each child has asked for this year. Shoppers pick a tag, or tags, from the tree, buy the items and turn them over to Troxell and her crew who deliver them just before Christmas.

The tree was supposed to be up until Dec. 10, but on Saturday afternoon Troxell got a call from the manager at Walmart telling her that “a gentleman, an absolute angel,” Troxell wrote on her Facebook page, “came in the store today and generously offered to buy all the gifts for the ‘angels’ on the tree.”

But someone had to go through the store and purchase those gifts for each child.

Enter the Annawan-Wethersfield Titans cheerleaders and their sponsor, Cathy Dana. After Saturday’s playoff football game, the girls volunteered to take on the daunting task. After all, who could pass up an opportunity to shop for hours while someone else picked up the tab?

“Those girls shopped for over three hours straight, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday night,” Troxell told the school board. “They rocked it and I can’t thank them enough.”

Troxell said she was told it took Walmart cashiers six hours to ring up the purchases which Troxell said she heard came to around $11,000.

“Heather and I are absolutely overjoyed and humbled!” Troxell wrote in a Facebook post. “There are so many compassionate people who consistently come together to make this happen every year… We cannot express our deepest gratitude to this gentleman enough for his selfless act.”

Troxell started the toy drive in 2009 after the loss of her brother, Sgt. Schuyler Patch, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan earlier that year and was never able to fulfill his dream of having his own kids someday.

“Thank you to everyone who helps keep Schuyler’s name alive through thoughtful gifts like this,” his sister said.