Local family surprised with a ‘miracle’ during Christmas
Calhoun joins together to buy a handicap-accessible van as a surprise for the Miller family on Christmas Eve.
When Joan White took her niece Ginger Miller and Miller’s sons out to Cracker Barrel for lunch on Christmas Eve, the Miller family thought it was an ordinary holiday meal. But when Ginger was surprised in the parking lot with a 2009 Toyota Sienna van being presented to her by a few local friends, she knew her family’s Christmas was anything but normal.
Ginger Miller, a native of Calhoun and a graduate of Calhoun High School, always wanted to leave Calhoun when she was younger. But when she had her three sons, she realized that Calhoun was her home and decided to stay close to family.
But staying in the area has had its own set of challenges. Her oldest son, Will Miller, 23, has cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, and their doctors are in Chattanooga, which requires a bit of a commute. And as of recently, their old van had been having problems, making trans- portation difficult and often unsafe.
Throughout Will’s life, Ginger’s father Randall Woody had been a source of support with taking care of Will, lifting him and helping out in ways he could. However, Woody suffered from a few health issues this year and was no longer able to help out Ginger in the ways he used to.
White said after Woody’s health problems, Ginger quit her job to take care of Will fulltime. And as a single parent, this decision left the family in a tight financial situation, though Ginger was doing the best she could.
One night, Flipper McDaniel, a friend of the family, was thinking of the Millers and knew he wanted to do something to help them out, according to White.
“He was thinking of Ginger and how much trouble she’s had with that van and they haven’t had the money to fix it,” White said. “When he told Brian Young about it, Brian said the same thing happened to him. This was a God thing.”
So the two men decided to try to help the Miller family, recruiting others along the way.
Young went out to Brian’s Auto Sales, the car lot of the small business he owned, and though he said it’s very rare for a handicap-accessible van to come through his lot, White said a van had just come through and it all fell into place.
“They got her that van, got her new tires on it and fixed it up,” White said. “And they’re paying her taxes and insurance for a year.”
With a little bit of planning, others who pitched in for the van planned to surprise the Millers and give them the van on Christmas Eve, coordinating with White.
“I had such a range of emotions: excited, shock, emotional,” Ginger said of the surprise waiting for her in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. “My other van had a lot or problems, and now this one is so much safer. There’s so much worry and stress taken off of me.”
Ginger agrees with her aunt that the families and individuals who helped make this miracle possible deserve recognition, although the two of them know that this act of kindness was not intended for the public eye.
“None of the men did this to be recognized, but they need to be,” Ginger Miller said. “Will was so excited that he drove right up in the van and I couldn’t get him out of it even to take a picture. It really makes me thankful to live in Calhoun.”
Ginger listed a few of the donors involved in this presentation, included Jesse and Christy Vaughn, Flipper and Marcia McDaniel, Jeff Adams and his family, Brian and Bridget Young, Darrell and Ellen Edwards, Pete and Karen Weber, Jeff and Kathy Rampy, and Brent Rutledge and his family. There were also anonymous donors that requested not to be named.
“I wanted to tell everyone because I think this is wonderful,” said White, who was ecstatic for her niece. “It’s a miracle. These people need to be recognized.”