Opening her garage to help

Michele MacNeal works as a nurse at Verdugo Hills Hospital, has raised three children and gives what is left of her time to volunteer with humanitarian-based efforts, such as Operation Christmas Child and the Parents Television Council. She attributes her busy lifestyle to her gene pool.

“As my grandmother used to say, ‘We Muncies have a lot of moxies,’” MacNeal said.

Her grandmother’s maiden name was Muncy, and she raised seven kids without a husband during the Great Depression.

“She always knew what had to get done,” said MacNeal.

MacNeal is active with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization. Operation Christmas Child is an adjunct of the organization, which conducts a collection program that allows people to fill empty shoe boxes with school supplies, toys, hygiene items and other gifts. A week before Thanksgiving, the boxes are delivered to needy children all over the world. In 2001, MacNeal found that there was no collection center on the West Coast, so she opened her garage for participants to drop off their shoe boxes. Her garage has served as a collection center ever since.

“Without any publicity, just from word of mouth, we collected 2,976 shoe boxes the first year,” she said. “I’m always dead tired by the end, but at the same time, I’m always filled with a sense of warmth, that humanity and Americans are still doing OK.”

Susan James Carr heard that MacNeal had opened up her garage to collect shoe boxes in 2007. Because MacNeal lived nearby, Carr decided to drop off the shoe box she had made.

“We found out that we were both nurses and had an instant bond,” Carr said. “She truly represents the generosity of spirit for someone who is giving up their garage to help people who don’t have much.”

Carr also serves as a board member for the Glendale chapter of the American Red Cross. She was inspired by MacNeal’s work and invited MacNeal to give a presentation to the Red Cross youth group about Operation Christmas Child. The kids decided to take up the project last year, and delivered the shoe boxes to MacNeal’s home.

“It gives me hope for our youth,” MacNeal said. “When you meet those kind of young people that still have compassion for others than themselves, it gives me encouragement that we are going to make it.”