(Editor’s note: The names in the story have been changed to protect the recipient’s identity.)
Despite living homeless for more than two years, Holly Bells never quit doing two things: giving and praying.
“I spent 20 years working on my father’s farm when I was younger, and over 40 years married to an American soldier with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and I learned some important lessons about the hard times in life a long, long time ago,” Bells told The Era.
In fact, one of the biggest reasons Bells decided to apply for The Era’s Less Fortunate (ELF) Fund was to remind herself, and others, that no challenge is ever too great when you surrender yourself to “the greater good.”
“Sometimes, when you think you’re at your lowest, life comes along and reminds you that you’re never too low to be blessed,” Bells said.
The ELF Fund matches the Christmas wishes of a needy child or senior in the Bradford Area School District with a volunteer gift buyer. But, as Bells pointed out, there is much more to celebrating the holiday than gifts. To her, the spirit of giving is what’s important.
“I go to church every Sunday, and I drop whatever amount of change I have in my pocket in the offering every week,” Bells stated. “Sometimes, it’s a $5 bill, other times, it’s only 5 cents. And when there was a point in my life where I would reach down and feel nothing but crumbs in my pocket, I gave by praying for others to compensate for what I couldn’t give. I prayed and prayed for something to give, which, after all of these years, I believe is my job to do.”
When The Era arrived at Bells’ temporary living arrangements on Wednesday, she spent most of the visit pulling pictures from a dusty box in the corner detailing her life before she came to Bradford in 2012.
Bells grew up in a middle class family in the 1960s on the outskirts of Smethport, where she worked on her father’s dairy farm for most of her early years. Her father was “a hard man,” who liked to spit and chew, and she remembered spending long hours and late nights working outdoors.
“There’s something peaceful about being in the field, or in the grass or lying in a bale of hay in the middle of summer,” Bells reminisced. “It was my favorite part of the day, and also when I got the chance to talk with God for several minutes before I’d have to go inside and do chores in the kitchen.”
Bells never felt the need to complain, she added. “I was just thankful for a warm bed to go to at the end of the day. I had sisters, a little brother. A caring mother and a hard-working father. I learned so much from them that I’ve passed on to my children, and their children. You need that balance — work, then reward. And my reward was always my family.”
Bells brushed the dust off of another picture, this one smaller, and framed. It was a picture of her and her husband, Jack Frost, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. They were married for more than 40 years, until he passed away of cancer in 2012 — leaving Bells to move to Bradford, where her daughter and her two grandchildren were living.
“I was sad to say goodbye to someone that had such an impact in my life for so many years, but I never quit talking to God about it,” she said. “You know what he told me? That Jack was with him, that he didn’t have PTSD anymore, and that he didn’t want me to be alone. Except to pray, I never really did like being alone. And it’s hard to feel alone in a small-town place like Bradford.”
The transition was difficult for Bells, however, and she described how she and her daughter struggled to meet their home’s financial needs. So as not to put them out, she decided to try and find her own place a few years later.
That was when she first heard about The ELF Fund.
“I never wanted anyone to help me find a home,” Bells explained. “I had one — a wonderful one, once. All I wanted was to be able to have something to drop into the offering at church so that someone else could find their home.”
Bells asked for one simple thing: a needle and yarn.
“My mother taught me to sew and to craft when I was younger, so I’ve been practicing making scarves,” Bells said. “The first one I gave to my first granddaughter. I had someone that wanted it, but it was important that she got one first. So I had to quickly make another, identical one and the woman who bought it off of me loved it. She told all of her friends, and pretty soon I had several orders to fill. It reminded me of work on the farm. And it finally allowed me to having something to give back.”
The spirit of giving is why she believes that The ELF Fund is a “magical” thing for the community.
Bells has a small Christmas tree in another corner, decorated with painted glass bulbs that she said were gifts from her grandchildren. They hung from the tree by colorful threads of yarn.
“They were my last threads,” she said, smiling.
Bells said she is excited to get to spend Christmas morning with her daughter and grandchildren. Seeing them sit around their Christmas tree, with hope and love in their eyes, makes her happy and reminds her of home.
“Home isn’t a place,” she said. “It’s people. It’s the time you take from your busy schedule to talk to God. It’s picturing your soldier at peace. It’s working hard all day for that one minute at the end where you get to look around at the sky and the stars; it’s giving back, and getting to see another day — no matter where you spend it.”
For anyone who would like to volunteer as a gift buyer for recipients like Bells, ELF gift tags can be found at Bradford businesses. Each tag contains the Christmas needs and/or wishes of one local child or senior citizen. There is a $30 limit per tag.
Wrapped gifts can be dropped off at this year’s distribution center, 1020 E. Main St., Suite 4, a location donated by John Kohler. Gift collection times will be from noon to 6 p.m. Nov. 29, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, and from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 3.
It’s important to bring gifts back by Dec. 3, as ELF Fund volunteers will begin shopping right away for anyone who does not have a gift.
