Comments by Kevin P. Gavin - 23 Feb 2007: Comments and Discussions
A Spiritual Archives Story from All-Creatures.org

Comments by Kevin P. Gavin - 23 Feb 2007: Comments and Discussions

Re: The White Envelope

Thanks for putting my mother’s story on the web. Her name is Nancy W. Gavin. The story first appeared in Woman's Day magazine in 1982. She had sent the story in as a contest entry in which she subsequently won first place. Unfortunately, she passed away from cancer two years after the story was published.

Our family still keeps the tradition started by her and my father and we have passed it on to our children. I had not really thought about the publication of the story for many years but I was contacted a few days ago by a gentleman from Atlanta who has started a charitable foundation called the "White Envelope Project". He had sent out over 190 letters to people with the surname Gavin looking for my mother or her relatives so that he could learn more about the story. You can view his web site at www.whiteenvelopeproject.org. 

I had heard from some friends that the story had circulated in e-mail form but it never occurred to me to google it and see what popped up. Quite a few hits some of which have credited my mother and others listed the author as anonymous. I thought I would try to contact those with anonymous to get the omission cleared up.

Feel free to use the story. It gives me and my sisters great joy to know that it lives on and has hopefully inspired others to reach out in a way that truly honors the spirit of Christmas.

Kevin P. Gavin

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