Operation St. Nick grants wishes for Christmas in July

MORRIS – Derick Donofrie was trying to find a way to pay for a new couch for his apartment in Morris with the help of Operation St. Nick he was gifted with much more.

Donofrie was one of the veterans chosen this year by Operation St. Nick’s Christmas in July program, which grants wishes of up to $5,000 for active or veteran military personnel in Grundy County.

Now in its 12th year, Operation St. Nick and the Morris Herald-News partnered in the program to honor military families. Christmas in July originally, the 12 days of Christmas, ran through December. In 2017, the name was changed to run from Memorial Day through the Fourth of July.

Donofrie said he was “flabbergasted” when he was notified he was chosen.

“They wanted to give me so many things and help me out,” he said. “I just wanted a couch and maybe to be able to send gifts to my daughter and three grandchildren in Japan.”

Donofrie, a Marine, was stationed in Japan and served in Iraq.

“When I was stationed in Japan, I met a beautiful woman, we got divorced, but we had a daughter,” he said.

Donofrie did not have much contact with his daughter, until eight years ago, when she contacted him on Facebook. He was able to keep in contact with her through Facebook, but needed laptop.

“It is always a blessing on any communication device to talk to my daughter. But, to have a bigger screen- imagine not speaking to someone you loved for years,” Donofrie said.

“When I got sick I couldn’t reach out, and then I won this thing that totally changed my life and made me feel better about being a veteran. It’s life changing,” he said.

Operation St. Nick granted wishes for 18 military personal and their families this year, spending a total of $44,077.

Kathy Lambros, a member of Operation St. Nick, believes that the Christmas in July is about thanking active or veteran military personnel.

“Sometimes they feel like its charity, but its really a thank you. We don’t like to look at it as helping them because they are down. We are thanking them for doing what they did for us and what they continue to do,” she said.