Today we’d like to introduce you to Leeann Stayer
Hi LeeAnn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a foster mother to a baby whose mother was incarcerated. I picked him up from the hospital when he was just 2 days old. My goal was to help his mother make good choices and be reunited with her baby upon her release. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit her in prison often as she was unavailable for visitation. Upon her release, I continued to care for her now toddler until she could get a job, secure a place to live, etc. I offered to bring him for visits (she was in West Palm at the time and I was in Orlando) but she only contacted us a few times.
This was a year of hell for me. I didn’t know what she was doing, if she would be reunited with him, could she provide a safe environment for him. My thinking was, ‘Is this my last birthday with him, my last Thanksgiving, my last Christmas?” So my family decided to celebrate everything BIG and make the most of every moment.
As it turns out, I ended up adopting him at the age of four. But what a journey it was to get there!
About that time, Brooke Dixon (a dear friend and Board Member of Christmas Dreams) was working at Boggy Creek as a counselor for the summer. She came home with stories of kids battling all kinds of illnesses that needed an opportunity to celebrate and live moments NOW. These stories hurt my heart and as time marched on, she shared with me as children she had met had passed away.
God began bringing these experiences together in my heart and my head. I knew we needed to do something to come alongside these families and help them celebrate and create moments and memories to last a lifetime. So, the thought of Christmas everyday began.
I took the idea to our Pastor, Jeff Dixon (I guess I should mention I am a Minister at The Church @ 434) and asked if we could create something for these families. Could we create Christmas every day and encourage, bring a bit of hope and joy to the nightmare they live in? His response was, “Why couldn’t we?”
So I put together a Board of Directors and we began chasing this Dream. We filed and became a 501C3, began imagining what a North Pole themed resort would look like and had fun dreaming. Then on Christmas Eve 2009 we introduced the idea to Covenant Community Church (which would become The Church @ 434) and our members joined teams and helped us develop the themed resort and develop strategies to make the dream a reality.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Somewhat smooth.
We did have investors/hedge fund managers who were very interested in helping us until the economy took a turn. They all seemed to disappear and we no longer had contacts to help fund the multi-million dollar resort. But that didn’t stop us!
We knew we needed to be loving on families NOW and couldn’t wait to raise the $12 million. So our Board came back together and we develop the mobile experience. It is called Christmas is Coming. We took some of the concepts from the themed resort and put them into a trailer.
We bought a 40′ trailer from Sysco Foods and began creating our experience. We gutted the trailer and worked every Saturday from 9:00–noon for about a year creating Mrs. Claus’ kitchen, the Tinker Shop and Santa’s Man Cave. All of this was done by volunteers and supplies were donated or purchased by church members to get us on the road!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have been a minister at The Church @ 434 (formerly Covenant Community Church) for 31 years and I absolutely love it! My passion is to meet the needs of the community. My thinking is that if the church ceased to exist, would the community even notice? If not, we have missed our calling. (I graduated UCF with a BA in Interpersonal Communication and Reformed Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Christian Education)
I am the Director of the Magic 107.7 Easter Egg Hunt and we have partnered with Clear Channel for more than 27 years. It began in Lake Mary in 1997 and continued to grow and I believe it is one of the largest and longest running egg hunts in Seminole County. I work with the leaders of the City of Longwood and local businesses in providing this event to the community.
I also lead the Christmas Store @ 434 that provides Christmas gifts for 100 teens in Seminole County. The families are treated to a tasty breakfast, are gifted a tin that they can fill with cookies of their choice, then a shopping assistant leads them to the different gift rooms and selects one small, one medium and one large gift for each teen in the family. Then they head to gift wrap where gifts are loving wrapped and they can tag each gift. We encourage parents to write that the gift is from them or Santa. We want to provide an opportunity for them to be heroes in the eyes of their teen children–something that isn’t always easy to do. This model has been copied and used by several non-profits in our area.
I also lead the children’s musicals once a year, lead our Ladies Ministry and team lead our young adult ministry
While I am excited about all that God has called me to do, I am most excited about the ministry of Christmas Dreams. I am the vision caster, President and organizer. I work with Child Life Specialists, other non-profit leaders, volunteers and bring passion to all that I do. To date more than 11,000 families have been impacted by the work we’ve done at Christmas Dreams and we’re just getting started!
We have taken Santa into the NICU for pictures with babies (and their families) who won’t be home for Christmas, we decorate areas of AdventHealth for Christmas, we provide more than 500 pillowcases each December for children receiving treatment, we provide Christmas in July experiences, have partnered with Make a Wish, have hosted families on site in Winter Springs, host School for Santas with Santa Tim Connaghan (Hollywood Parade Santa, Marine Toys for Tots Santa, National Santa, etc), and take our Christmas is Coming experience to AdventHealth for Children for a week in December and to Kosair for Kids in KY for a week in June.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Our City has the perfect name for Christmas Dreams! WINTER Springs!
And Seminole County has been supportive of our charity. The Sheriffs Office transports our Christmas is Coming to AdventHealth each year. In the past, Commissioners have helped us with donations and support and has been such a blessing!
What bothers me about our city is all the fighting within the leadership. There seems to be two very different viewpoints about the future of the city and often it is put out on social media for all the world to see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christmasdreams.org
- Instagram: christmasdreams365
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/christmasdreams
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@christmasdreams8461
