Family provides merry Christmas for video gamers

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December 23, 2009

By TIM PRESTON / The Independent The Daily Independent Wed Dec 23, 2009, 12:07 AM EST

Ashland — Last year at Christmas Debbie Mauterstock of Winchester was preparing for a bankruptcy hearing and feeling miserable about life in general. This year, she has helped make Christmas a little better for hundreds of local families and finds herself bubbling over with holiday spirit.

Debbie and husband Ray closed the doors of their video game store in Winchester last year after she found herself at odds with her personal convictions.

She explained it was difficult to see young people whose families needed assistance paying bills coming into their shop and spending $70 or $80 for games and accessories. As she became familiar with the nature of many of the games themselves, Mauterstock said she became convinced she was contributing to something bad for her community.

Despite their own financial burdens and hardships, the Mauterstocks closed the shop and packed all of their games, systems, controllers and office equipment into their garage, where it quickly became a burden on Mauterstock’s heart and mind.

She said she had turned to God for an answer regarding what to do with the games and equipment, and was thrilled to find the answer in a story about the need for additional new and used toys to be sold during the annual toy sale by For Jamie’s Sake, originally printed in The Independent and later posted on the MSN.com Web site.

“I stomped in the house like a big baby and I got online and what did I see — a story,” Mauterstock said, later explaining she doesn’t know anyone in Boyd County, although she is familiar with Ashland from her road trips to West Virginia. “I was so excited when I read the story because this had been bearing on my mind since last Christmas.”

Getting the games and accessories from the garage proved a bit easier said than done, although a group of For Jamie’s Sake volunteers found its way to Winchester Monday and loaded an estimated $21,000 worth of goodies into a truck and a car before returning it to Ashland for sorting and sale.

Within an hour of opening the toy sale Tuesday morning, For Jamie’s Sake volunteers had sold nearly every item donated by the Mauterstocks. Organizer Lea Ann Gollihue said Mauterstock’s contribution would certainly make a difference for For Jamie’s Sake.

“Most of it has never been opened,” said an enthusiastic Gollihue. “It just kind of makes your heart smile.”

Gollihue said she was inspired by Mauterstock’s faith about her gift.

“This lady emphasized that she has prayed about this and she really believes that we were supposed to have all of this,” she said. “That is a lot to donate to an organization you’ve never even heard of.

It was a contribution that almost didn’t happen, Gollihue said, explaining the toy sale had been scheduled for Saturday until a winter storm Friday forced the agency to postpone the event, allowing volunteers an opportunity to travel to Winchester, load the video games and supplies and then bring it all back for sorting before Tuesday morning.

“I told her this is a Christmas miracle,” Gollihue said.

Jim Howard, one of the many people who looked for gifts during Tuesday’s toy sale, said he found Christmas toys including “little garages, put-together race tracks, cars and trucks” for the young ones on his list.

“This is very helpful for kids at Christmas,” Howard said.

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