History
Shortly before Christmas 1933 in Depression-scarred Canton, Ohio, a small newspaper ad offered $10, no strings attached, to 75 families in distress. Interested readers were asked to submit letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. A Secret Gift’s grandfather Sam Stone was inspired to place this ad and assist his fellow Cantonians as they prepared for the cruelest Christmas most of them would ever witness.
On this site, we’ve compiled great resources to help bring to life the rich stories within the book. Please browse through the following pages to view these resources.
Dear Mr. Gup,
This book has got to be one of the most profoundly moving books I have ever had the pleasure to read. Your grandfather was a remarkable man. Imagine my surprise when reading this book to find on page 73 a reference to an area just down the road from our farm – White Fox, Ohio. I have since been able to find out where Mr. Stewart’s family lived.
There is no recognized White Fox in this area; however, a local family living near the railroad crossing has a sign at the corner of their yard that reads WHITE FOX. This evidently should read WHITE FOX JUNCTION as White Fox was approximately a half mile further south on Butler Road, where my family and I reside. Mr. Stewart and family lived approximately another half mile further south on this same road.
I am 63 years old and remember comments being made about the Great Depression as I was growing up. But not a lot was said. My family were good hard working people that survived and thrived after this horrible event.
Thank you for sharing your family’s life and history as well as the many people your grandfather helped.
1830 Butler Road, Wakeman, OH 44889
20 December 2010
Saw your Hyde Park video discussion of the Secret Gift. Very touching, very inspiring. And very courageous of you to put the time and effort into what hardly seemed like a commercial book. Congratulations, and a Merry Christmas.
Marshall Lee Miller
Alexandria, Virginia
I signed up in your publication, so please keep up the informative posts? Perhaps there is a way to disable that online system?
I hear that composer Phillip Bimstein has written an song cycle based on the letters for his wonderful group Red Rock Rondo. I hear that some of the songs are available at their MySpace: http://myspace.com/redrockrondo. Fans of your wonderful group would love to know about the progress of the cycle and where they could hear performances.