Lunenburg Brothers Bring “Operation Cheer” to Kids Facing Illness at Christmas

By Brian Nowlin, Staff Writer

There are thousands of quotes about Christmas and how giving is the spirit of the holiday instead of receiving. While there are countless acts of giving and kindness throughout the area each year, there may be no better demonstration than the “Operation Cheer” event held by the duo.

Dalton and Logan Ashworth will be holding their second “Operation Cheer” for St. Mary’s Hospital this year for Christmas. Dalton has a special connection with the Richmond area hospital and the two brothers chose St. Mary’s because he was a patient there after needing medical attention and spending time at the facility.

Dalton was diagnosed with Chron’s Disease and he continues to receive regular treatments at that location. His mother Rachel recalls that during his first stay at St. Mary’s,  Dalton received a Christmas gift and went on to receive Valentine gifts and Easter gifts as he spent time there.

Dalton initially had dreams  of  giving back to the hospital with something like having a unit dedicated to just children with Chron’s disease , and who knows if down the road he may work toward that goal, but his parents Carl and Rachael suggested that he may need to start off with something on a smaller scale. From there he thought about  how the gifts had cheered him up during stays at the hospital and so he wanted to do a toy drive.

The idea is that this act of kindness would make the sick children feel better, if only for a few minutes or at least distract them from the medical issues that are facing.

Having seen what Dalton had gone through, Logan also wanted to be involved and help out so the two began their toy drive initiative.

The brothers collect gifts that come to their house just outside of Victoria and they are wrapped and coded with a number to correspond with the gender and age of the gift for a child at the hospital. They distribute the toys to the patients in the hospitals unless they are facing medical restrictions, but even then, Dalton and Logan still go and interact with those patients from the hallway.

This is the second year that they have held “Operation Cheer.” Last year they distributed gifts to the Pediatric Unit and the Pediatric ICU. This year they gotten an even bigger response and the gift giving has extended  to the Outpatient Pediatric Infusion Center, which is where Dalton still goes for treatments every eight weeks.

In a time where there seems to be so much wrong everywhere, young men like Dalton and Logan remind everyone that there is still plenty of “right” as well.