A year ago, 20 children crammed into Debra and Lamont Lemon’s townhouse in Park Forest and quietly opened Christmas gifts donated by charities. The mood was somber because of the death of the mother of many of the children.
This Christmas, the children, now numbering 21, noisily ran through their new four-bedroom Country Club Hills house, ripping paper off bikes, dolls and Game Boys, and dining on a catered spread of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy. Debra Lemon, 36, answered the door to more than 20 strangers bearing toys, clothes and cards stuffed with cash.
“The house was so noisy, but it didn’t bother me,” she said. “It was the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
She and her husband were nearly homeless in November 2002 after taking custody of her sister’s 13 children and a grandchild when the sister died of Gillian-Barre syndrome. The townhouse where the Lemons lived with their own six children didn’t allow for so many people, and earlier this year, one of Lemon’s nieces had a baby, bringing the total number of kids to 21. Debra Lemon had to quit her job as a mental-health technician to care for the children.
Assistance from a University Park church enabled them to move into a bigger Country Club Hills home. But when their story recently got into newspapers and on TV newscasts, help poured in.
Last week, more than 25 Christmas cards containing checks or cash totaling more than $4,000 were mailed or delivered to the family, Lemon said. Thank-you cards will be sent later and the money deposited into a bank account for the children, who range in age from 7 months to 19 years, she said.
On Monday, Salem Baptist Church in Chicago sent a baby-sitter and some cash so the Lemons could go out on a date. The couple had dinner at a Chili’s restaurant in Orland Park, then spent the leftover money on new wedding bands, Lemon said.
On Christmas morning, toys and attention were showered on the Lemons. TV crews filmed them opening toys. Eight-year-old Amber got the bike she wanted, and the boys all got Nintendo Game Boys. A Chicago business sent a caterer.
Lemon has been gratified by the reaction. “There are people out there who genuinely care,” she said.
