Nine-year-old Josie Arthur pleaded for five more minutes in bed before bundling up for an early-morning bike ride on Christmas Eve.
With jingle bells decorating her two-wheeler, Josie and other residents of Richmond’s Bellevue area participated in the five-kilometer Jingle Bell Run to support the family of 8-year-old Abbie Waters, who is battling cancer at VCU Medical Center.
“She really hasn’t deserved this,” Josie said of her friend’s illness.
“She’s one of those girly kids. She likes pink. She’s nice. She has a very kind nature.”
Dressed in elf hats, Christmas socks and holiday ornaments, about 50 neighbors and friends of the Waters family walked and biked from Westminster Avenue to Bryan Park and back before gathering for coffee and pastries at the home of Katie Best, who organized the event with two running buddies.
The informal run followed a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot last year to benefit the Central Virginia Food Bank and a similar event last month that provided money and care packages for the Waters family.
Best marveled at the generosity and spirit of her neighborhood, which she and others likened to Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show,” or Bedford Falls from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” They credited Linwood Holton Elementary School, where Abbie and other neighborhood children are students, with helping to unify the community.
“Nobody here is going to suffer through something without everyone pulling together,” Best said.
In an e-mail, Mary Ann Waters, Abbie’s mother, said the family is indebted to Best, Amy Henderson and other neighbors who have offered support.
“They are true angels on Earth,” she said. “Their generosity and love for my baby girl brings tears to this mom's eyes.”
Waters said Abbie was receiving chemotherapy treatment at VCU Medical Center but was hoping to be allowed to go home on Christmas Eve “so she can help make cookies for Santa.”
As red-cheeked children made themselves at home in the warm living room, 10-year-old Erica Cummings described how her long, blonde hair had been cut in Abbie’s honor at school to support Locks of Love, a nonprofit group that provides hairpieces to children who suffer long-term medical hair loss.
“It’s just a nice way to start Christmas Eve morning,” runner Bob Aikin said of the gathering.
“It puts everything in perspective,” said Erica’s mother, Kristin Cummings.
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