MARS HILL, Maine — Six years ago, Ryan and Jamie Guerrette of Mars Hill were the recipient of a Christmas miracle.
An anonymous donor stepped forward to pay for the entire cost of surgery to create new ears for their daughter, Bobbi, who was 3 years old at the time.
Bobbi was born with bilateral microtia with atresia. The condition is evident at birth and essentially means she was born without ears. In Bobbi’s case, one of her ears wasn’t open and the other was a skin tag that did not function.
In 2009, an anonymous donor read about Bobbi’s story in the Bangor Daily News and decided to donate more than $100,000 for the cost of the surgery. Now, Bobbi has two functioning ears, no longer has to wear her bone-anchored hearing aid and can swim, tumble and wear earrings.
After experiencing a miracle of their own, Jamie Guerrette said Thursday, they immediately felt the need to start giving back to their community, and what started small has snowballed from there.
“Our whole family is really into philanthropy now,” Guerrette said. “It is not just the adults. Our two girls know the significance of what we have experienced and the importance of giving back since we have received so much.”
After receiving the donation, Jamie Guerrette created an after-school program called After The Bell to cater to children in the Mars Hill area.
“It gave children in the area a place to go after school and lots of fun activities to go to,” she said. “We gave them physical activities to do and staged little events for them. We had a lot of children take part in that.”
Guerrette said she only had to stop organizing events for After The Bell after she got a new job.
She also set her sights on becoming a wish granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a goal she accomplished two years ago.
“I was really excited to get that done,” she said. “I have done between five and six wishes so far, from trips to Disney World to room makeovers. I get just as excited as the kids. I get so happy. It really is so fulfilling to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”
During the holiday season, another passion of Guerrette’s is her Breakfast With Santa parties, which she stages in early December.
She said the goal of the project is to give warm pajamas to children in the southern and central Aroostook area, so they can wear them to bed Christmas Eve and wake up in them on Christmas morning.
“We wanted all children to wake up on Christmas feeling safe and warm in new pajamas,” she said. “That is the goal. We started out just in the Mars Hill area, and we have been doing it for four years. We used to hand out just 200, and now we have expanded it to Presque Isle for the first time, so we are up to 300. Children come from as far away as Danforth to come to the party and have breakfast and visit with Santa and get their pajamas.”
She said her older daughter, Carly, also has a “heart for philanthropy.”
“She could probably run a fundraiser all by herself,” she said.
Guerrette said her family plans to continue giving back as long as possible.
“When you are touched by generosity like we were, I think it is a given that you should lead the way and show others that you can be just as generous in giving back,” she said Thursday.