GREENSBORO, N.C. — A holiday tradition, made out of chicken wire and string lights, has become a world-wide phenomenon helping to provide food to those in need.
What You Need To Know
- The Smith family began the tradition in 1996 of making lighted Christmas balls out of chicken wire and string lights
- The family began collecting food in their yard from visitors in the early 2000's for the local food bank
- $896,494 and 198,746 pounds of food have been collected as of the 2023 Running of the Balls and counting
- The Shine the Light on Hunger food drive has helped provide more than 5.5 million meals to those in need
Over 20 years ago, Jonathan Smith’s daughter came home from college with an idea to make lighted Christmas balls out of unusual holiday decor.
“She said, ‘Daddy, I saw these lights on Glenwood, and I think we can make them. And I don't know how we'll do it, but I think it'll work on chicken wire,’” Smith said.
He says they went to the local hardware store to gather their supplies and gave it a go, making round shapes out of the chicken wire in their living room.
His daughter hung the ball about the size of a cantaloupe outside, and it immediately began attracting attention.
“She sat out on the porch about 10 minutes. She came flying inside and said, ‘Oh, my gosh, you won't believe it. A couple stopped, and they roll down the window. They got out of the car and they said, That is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen,’” said Smith.
This prompted more balls to be made and hung for all to see. Neighbors soon gathered at block parties to learn how to make the balls.
“Some of them come out looking like cylinders, and people bend the top over, and they look like candy canes. Some of them look like tater tots, some of them look like spheres. But by the time you wrap it up with lights… it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” said Smith.
Soon thousands of spheres began lining the streets of the Sunset Hills community, and visitors from across the state began to travel to see the lights.
Patients from the cancer hospital at the end of street often pushed their chemo appointments to the late afternoon to drive through the lights on the way home, and frequently stopped at the Smith’s to say thank you.
“She said, ‘I have breast cancer. I came down the street after every treatment, and I had so much hope,’” said Smith.
The neighborhood began bringing food as a thank you to the Smith’s for the beautiful lights they created, which led to a collection for the local food bank in their yard.
“Somebody made a handwritten sign that said ‘Food for Hungry People’. And at the end of that afternoon, there was like 500 pounds of food in the trailer and donations of $1,100 dollars on the first day,” said Smith.
Neighbors began dropping off anything they can spare, from kids lunches, rainy day cash and even having birthday parties with gifts exchanged for cans.
In 2011, the neighborhood began hosting the Running of the Balls, a 5-K held in December, to benefit the local food bank. This year over 4,000 runners participated.
“I don't know if these folks have been in Greensboro six months or if this is their first weekend or if they've been here 45 years. But just to hear the laughter and see the smiles and you see the little kids poking along and the parents being patient with it. I love it because I get to, I get to walk among them as one of us,” said Smith.
As of the 2023 Running of the Balls, the Shine the Light on Hunger food drive has collected 198,746 pounds of food, and $896,464 in donations and counting.
With every $1 donated to Second Harvest Food Bank, up to six meals can be made. Meaning more than 5.5 million meals have been fed to those in need.
Smith says the balls are just props for the real meaning of what's behind the lights: help for those in need and big smiles.
“My other hope is that these lighted Christmas balls, and the people that make them would sort of jump the tracks and go to other neighborhoods maybe that don't have the resources that we have and to take, take the balls into communities where we're hope is really at an all time low like children's hospitals, prisons, schools, for kids that are there, have had nothing but a hard not life,” said Smith.
Others from different states have started the tradition, collecting cans for their local food banks as well. Smith hopes more will begin hanging lighted balls in their neighborhoods as well.