By Audrey Seilheimer
Julia Markle is a grandmother and a Vicksburg native whose family connections go back more than four generations in the village.
Her husband Dave owns Markle Auto and Truck Repair on Prairie Street, and their family has been helping customers in need of auto repairs – or who may have been struggling to get transportation while their cars await repairs – for more than 30 years.
They have a 6-year-old grandson named Alaric who has cerebral palsy. They care for him in their home in the village along with Alaric’s dad.
They are deeply rooted here in Vicksburg as Alaric’s great grandfather served as a South County EMS first responder for 30 years and his great grandmother drove a bus for Vicksburg Community Schools for 50 years.
One evening last month, Julia posted what she calls “a rant” on a village group forum on social media. She was frustrated and exhausted as caretaker for Alaric and missed the old sense of community her parents had fostered. She also needed a ramp for Alaric to get down their back steps on the way to and from school in a wheelchair. She mentioned it in the post, saying that in another era the community would have gathered together and pitched in to build a ramp with them for the child.
Her husband Dave had been lifting their grandson down the steps every day but his grandchild was growing. It was getting difficult and unsafe.
“I wasn’t asking for help directly, and I was mostly just frustrated and tired and mentioned that in my grandparents’ days here, everyone would have come over and helped us to build a ramp for Alaric and maybe that spirit wasn’t what it used to be in the village. I just didn’t know where to seek out help and I felt like with all the new activity in town, maybe it wasn’t the same.”
As a writer, mother and newer resident, I happened to see Julia’s post that evening and wanted to help. I could hear the sadness and exhaustion in what she had typed. A few of us on the post’s thread reached out to her and shared a few ideas to help point her in the right direction and empathize with her work caretaking for this sweet child for so long.
That’s when Vicksburg neighbors, old classmates, and longtime customers of Markle Auto shop stepped in to help, prompted by a simple solution to help Alaric get what he needed this Christmas. The solution was to create a gift wish list!
Via Amazon, shoppers could anonymously buy the specific items Alaric needed, including a portable, pre-built 12-foot ramp for the back of their house. After a flyer was circulated on Facebook on the page “Vicksburg Vibes” (my social photography journal,) and the original “Village Watch” group forum post, , which had generated more than a hundred comments encouraging her to seek out support services and take people up on their offers to help, Julia saw packages start arriving at their doorstep for Alaric within days.
“I was just sobbing with joy and thanks. I just can’t believe what this village has done for our grandson! This year he’s going to get a real Christmas. These are things we really needed! Someone sent a very nice ramp for him, and a walker, and a mattress to prevent bedsores, and grips so he can learn to hold his toothbrush and neck supports and… so many other things. I’m just so overwhelmed by all of this! THANK YOU, Vicksburg! This has been a Godsend, and I am just so overwhelmed by our wonderful community and this love for our grandson.” Markle exclaimed.
“I didn’t directly ask for help, so I apologized, but then you offered to help Alaric and we are so grateful. He’s the sweetest boy and he gets to have a real Christmas this year because people cared. You have no idea how much we needed these things.” Many happy tears were shed.
Some of the packages had notes from the senders and Julia recognized the names of many. However, some were from strangers or some simply said “From Someone in Vicksburg who cares.” The Markle’s entire family could not believe how many people sent gifts to help them care for their grandchild. One frustrated moment on social media was transformed into love and care by the Vicksburg community.
It was sort of a George Bailey moment in the middle of Vicksburg!
At the time of publication, Alaric had been admitted to Devos Children’s hospital just before Christmas but Julia was hopeful he’d be home in time to appreciate all the community has done. Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It’s a congenital disorder of movement and muscle and impacts learning, speech and body functions. It is the most common motor disability of childhood. About 1 in 345 children has been identified with cerebral palsy according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.
