I spent the bulk of my weekly Letter From the Editor on Page 6 of Monday's paper lamenting the loss of many of the things that define us as a community.
I probably should have checked the preceding two pages beforehand.
There I would have found the story of Ridley Township Detective Jerry Scanlan and his friends, otherwise known as "Jillian's Angels."
They derive the name from Jillian Massey, a little girl who lost her battle with cancer, but not her sense of humanity and community.
It was Jillian's dream, developed while she battled the dread disease, to make this time of year a little brighter for kids like her, who are often stuck in hospitals at this special time of year.
It was Jillian Massey's dream to provide a lift to all those kids - and a few toys at Christmas along the way.
That's where "Jillian's Angels" came in.
Scanlan enlisted the help of some friends and took up Jillian's cause.
"Sassy" Massey lost her battle with medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain and spine cancer. But with a big helping hand from "Jillian's Angels" here on Earth, her dream lives on, making Christmas brighter for sick kids in hospitals across the region.
The group has collected thousands of toys and delivered them in toy drives all across the region.
Yes, Jillian, there is a Santa Claus.
His name is Jerry Scanlan,
And just as Santa has lots of help from his elves, Scanlan gets a helping hand from his band of "angels."
Are we losing our sense of community.
Not if Jerry Scanlan has anything to say about it.
Make sure you read his story here.
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