Spreading holiday cheer: Sycamore family delivers gifts for annual Goodfellows campaign

SYCAMORE – Santa might drive a sleigh with eight reindeer, but the Jackson family is a little more modern in their delivery method.

They use a GMC Denali.

Brian Jackson drove around Tuesday morning with his wife, Heather, their three daughters, Izzie, 16, Cece, 14, and Finley, 14, and their son, Beckett, 10. Their mission: To deliver coats and boots to families in need on behalf of nonprofit organization Goodfellows.

The Jacksons, who live in Sycamore, have been volunteering their time to deliver presents for at least
10 years. Heather used Beckett's age as the range, because she knows they've been doing it since before he was born.

The whole family and its neighbors have the same goal, Brian said.

“We all want the same thing,” he said. “To have a Merry Christmas.”

Finley was happy to get up for the family’s yearly tradition. She said she knows the importance of giving.

“Everybody’s not as fortunate as we think,” she said. “Just because they don’t have what we have doesn’t make them any different than us.”

Brian described one challenge – finding the exact addresses of the families – as a puzzle.

“It’s like a game, a puzzle,” Brian said. “ ‘Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?’ ”

Brian, who used his phone’s GoogleMaps app to find where people lived, said Tuesday would be a day for the search engine to shine. Heather agreed.

“We will see people looking and peering at apartment numbers as they drive with big red and green bags,” she said.

The Jackson family did the same thing.

After Heather said that, the prediction came true – farther down that street, near University Village in DeKalb, the family passed another car also packed with green and red bags parked at the curb in front of another apartment.

The thick foggy weather and temperatures in the low 40s didn’t stop the Jacksons. And it didn’t stop the other families also delivering gifts.

Heather said the fog was nothing, especially with the day as warm as it was for Christmas Eve in the Sycamore and DeKalb areas.

“There’s been years we’ve done this where it’s sub-zero,” she said.

She described how in those years it had been so cold that by the time the family reached the door, they already were freezing.

“There have been times we’ve trekked through snow,” Heather said. “I remember this one time, when we had a minivan. The sliding door froze because it was so cold.”

Despite the unpredictable late-December weather, the family echoed the same sentiment: Connecting with people so they can deliver the gifts is what’s important.

Heather said her family has been successful in the years it brought presents to others.

On Tuesday, the Jacksons were successful on five of their six deliveries. Izzie said she loves it when recipients see them come through the door.

“I like seeing people’s reactions,” Izzie said. “They’re usually surprised and happy. My favorite thing is being at the door with all my siblings.”

Although the Jacksons mostly were successful in getting the gifts to where they need to go Tuesday, the success didn’t come easy.

“We managed to be 3-for-3,” Brian said about half-way through the family’s expedition. “It just took a little effort.”

Finley said people always are happy to see them at their doorstep.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen a sad reaction,” she said. “Or, a meh [reaction].”

“It’s seeing people’s reactions and knowing we made their Christmas just a little bit better,” Cece said.

Heather said that Goodfellows is wonderful to have put together the events.

“It’s a wonderful thing our community does to come together and spread holiday cheer,” she said.