This is a Christmas story, not entirely about a man who may have had the best of intentions at the time but possibly lacked sufficient foresight.

It’s also a story about the heroes who stepped up to make sure some needy kids received the gifts they had asked for this Christmas, and it all began on Saturday. Nov. 16.

The day before, Amber Troxell and Heather Dana put up the Angel Tree just inside the north entrance of Walmart, as they have done each year, for Patchy’s Red, White & Blue Christmas Toy Drive. They decked it from top to bottom with dozens of tags containing the requests of needy children between the ages of 1 and 13, which had been submitted by parents signing up for the annual distribution of Christmas presents. No names are on the tags, only the child’s age and gender.

On Saturday afternoon, Amber was attending the Annawan-Wethersfield quarterfinal football game nearby when she got a phone call from someone at Walmart. She was told that a man had come into the store and said he would buy all the tags on the tree…all 79.

“Heather and I were in tears and overjoyed at the generosity,” Amber said in a post on her Facebook page on Friday, Dec. 5.

Word spread at the game and Mrs. Dana’s mother-in-law, faculty cheerleader sponsor Cathy Dana, and the 16 girls volunteered to take on the task of filling the lists on the tags.

Each child could ask for up to one item of clothing, a pair of pajamas, two to three toys, a book, a game and a coloring book, if age appropriate.

That evening, the cheerleaders swept through the store filling shopping carts from the Walmart shelves, a job that took over 3-1/2 hours. Amber said she asked Walmart if they had to stick to a budget. “Heather and I are champs when it comes to stretching a dollar, but we were told no budget!”

Monday, Walmart associates rang up all of the merchandise, a task that took almost six hours, and the price tag came to a grand total of over $10,000.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, the story broke on The Kewanee Voice, topped off with a panoramic photo of Mrs. Dana and the A-W cheerleaders posed with several shopping carts full of presents.

The generosity of a Christmas “angel” who wished to remain anonymous, had single-handedly swept down and bought gifts for 79 needy kids in Kewanee.

The response was swift and overwhelming. The feel-good story of the season, if not the year, drew 640 “like” and “love” emojis, 53 “shares” and, at last count, 60 comments mostly praising the anonymous donor for his selfless act reflecting the true giving spirit of Christmas.

The week after the tags were filled Walmart reportedly talked to the man several times. Each time, Amber said, he promised to come in and pay, but never showed.

“Walmart stayed on top of contacting him all that week and they got crickets,” Amber said. “They then called me and told me they were giving up, and I don’t blame them. I felt terrible for all the time wasted!”

It also meant there was $10,000-worth of presents waiting in 79 plastic bags that would have to go back on the shelves. The tags would, most likely, have to go back on the tree in hopes that someone would pick them up and buy the presents for that child.

That would not happen, however, because there are more angels out there than one might think and they came to the rescue, saving Christmas for those 79 kids.

“(Walmart) employees (man I love them) were so upset they started pitching in and calling friends and family. They ended up paying for 39 bags! I cannot express how much Heather and I appreciate them for this!” Amber then said, “A few days later word was getting around, and I got a call from (Kewanee business owner) Nancy Sutton who had heard what happened and said, ‘Tell them not to put the stuff back I will take care of the rest!’” Nancy covered the cost of the remaining 40 bags.

“We appreciate every single person that contributes to this every year,” said Amber. “We could not do this without all of you! I am deeply saddened by the situation that occurred, but we just have to trust in God and know that he will guide and provide!”

Amber said Patchy’s Red, White & Blue Christmas Toy Drive will fill the Christmas wishes on over 850 tags this year, most with the help of people who take tags which are distributed through the tree at Walmart. The rest are filled with donations from local organizations, businesses and individuals. Christmas bags for teens ages 14 and up are also filled from confidential lists submitted by both Kewanee and Wethersfield high schools.

Amber said they would not be able to deliver Christmas joy to local children each year without the help of family members, friends and two longtime volunteers, Betty and Bob Gish. Amber and Heather also run their own businesses in addition to coordinating the annual toy drive in memory of Amber’s brother, Sgt. Schuyler Patch who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009.

As soon as they knew the presents had been paid for, Amber and Heather picked up the 79 bags at Walmart and placed them with the growing number that was beginning to cover the floor of the Salvation Army store in downtown Kewanee.

Santa may have his elves, but Kewanee has angels who make sure no child goes without presents under the tree this Christmas.