For 27 years, the Lashbrook family has been bringing visitors to the Stonegate neighborhood to kick off the Christmas season with drive-through light displays. And since 1999, the neighborhood has been donating the collected funds to local charities.
“Since so many cars came through our neighborhood, we thought we would take advantage,” said Connie Lashbrook of the decision to charge.
This year, the beneficiary of 2019’s Christmas in Stonegate is Wendell Foster, and on Friday, Jeff and Connie Lashbrook presented a check for $8,370 to Wendell Foster to be used in their outpatient therapies.
The Lashbrook’s eight-month-old granddaughter Karlee Pedley is a client in the physical therapy department and a local physician also reached out to the Lashbrook family asking the neighborhood to consider Wendell Foster as the recipient of this year’s donations.
“Wendell Foster relies on donations to help them be successful,” Connie said. “The physical therapy department was in need.”
Over the past years, all of the charities that Christmas in Stonegate has donated to have been very appreciative, Connie said, and this year Wendell Foster’s Vice President of Development Maggie Price said Wendell Foster is honored to have been chosen and thanked the entire Stonegate neighborhood.
“What a fun and festive way to celebrate the holidays with family and give back at the same time,” Price said. “These contributions will be used to fill the funding gap as we expand and enhance the quality of our outpatient therapy services. This includes a new outpatient therapy expansion facility as well as a comprehensive renovation of the current Green Therapy Pavilion.”
Connie said as the Lashbrooks took down their Christmas displays this year, her husband Jeff and son Tyler were already planning what they will change for next year. She said that they always want to make the displays “bigger and better” and always want to add something new for the annual visitors.
“My family works many long hours in the cold and even the rain to put the display up,” Connie said. “I don’t think people realize how much time and effort goes into putting up the display.”
Most of the families in the neighborhood decorate their houses for the season, and this has grown with the popularity of the Lashbrook’s home.
“We have people from all around us that tell us they have driven over an hour or more to see the lights and that we never disappoint,” Connie said. “We always have the same families who are in visiting their families from out of state that always make sure they visit.”
Santa also visits Christmas in Stonegate and passes out candy canes with helpers who collect money. A hot chocolate booth also provides another option for donations.
Jeff said this year, the addition of a sign that told people that donations were going to Wendell Foster helped get more as this year, it was more than the past years. He believes that telling the place and reason helped people contribute more and to give more for candy canes and hot chocolate.
Connie said that although they have tried to capture the number of people or cars that visit the neighborhood displays, they simply cannot, but she said that the Lashbrook’s Toyland display, where people can get out of their cars and take family pictures, is especially full of visitors when the weather is mild, as it was this year.
“We love that we can share this with the community to brighten someone’s day and to simply put a smile on your face,” Connie said. “Our neighborhood looks very beautiful during the holidays.”
