India Scott Short of Little Rock, a married mother of seven, said it would have been “a very sad Christmas” this year without Eric’s Christmas Miracles Ministry.
Eric Lamb of Conway said he has given gifts to about 575 children since he had a vision from God four years ago to help the needy.
“I woke up out of my sleep, and God gave me a vision of doing a Christmas ministry for less-fortunate kids and personally delivering [gifts] to their homes,” Lamb said.
“He gave me how to do it, too — by my gift of cooking. I love to cook.”
Lamb, a hardware technician at Acxiom in Little Rock, said he posts his menu on his Facebook page every Sunday night, and Thursday is the deadline for Friday deliveries. The meals, made in his home, cost $10 each.
“It’s different Southern soul food,” he said.
The first week in December, he made meatloaf, loaded mashed potatoes, green beans and pound cake. Lamb said he places the meals in a large warming bag and delivers them to people in Conway, Little Rock, North Little Rock and Maumelle.
He said the sales from his meals pay for the majority, but not all, of the toys he buys. And there are a lot of toys.
Lamb said he spends about $150 per child, which includes an outfit and three or four toys for each child in a family.
In August, he posts the application for families who need help — no income guidelines are used — and by September, he approves the applications and starts putting toys in layaway.
“I deliver all over Arkansas, plus to kids in other states,” he said. “I shipped off a box to Texas yesterday, and I shipped a box to Mexico.”
A friend of his who used to live in Fort Smith was deported to Mexico, he said, and said she started a ministry there and asked for his help.
Lamb said he’s assisted by his best friend, Angela Washington of Little Rock. Also, he said his co-workers at Acxiom have donated money, sponsored a child and helped wrap gifts.
“This year, I’m taking care of 170 children. It’s the biggest I’ve ever had,” Lamb said. “They call me Black Santa.”
He dons a Santa hat and his Eric’s Christmas Miracles Ministry T-shirt and delivers gifts on his lunch hour and every night after work. He contacts the families ahead of time to arrange toy deliveries, and he said that last year, he left the last house at 3 a.m. on Christmas Day.
Lamb said it’s heartbreaking to see some of the poverty he encounters.
“Going to some of the homes, they don’t have any furniture, no Christmas tree,” he said. “When I walk in there, the kids are happy to see me. They grab the gifts, and the parents are crying.
“Most all of them truly needed [the help]. Maybe one in all the years didn’t need it that much. Everyone else truly needed it,” he said.
Star Green, 30, of Wooster went from helping Lamb’s ministry to needing his help.
Green, 30, said she was married and living in Morrilton with her two children and stepdaughter, and she knew Lamb through a friend. She had bought meals from him to help his ministry.
“I went from being a sponsor to a recipient,” she said.
When her husband left her, Green said, she struggled financially. She lost her home, and she and her children, 6 and 8, live with friends now. Then her grandmother died a month before Christmas last year.
“I’ve always been upper middle class, and even to need help was embarrassing,” she said.
But Lamb stepped in.
“He said, ‘You helped me; I want to help,’” Green said.
“He told me over the summer to sign my kids up again,” she said. “It’s just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders not to worry about Christmas.
“I’m just so proud of him, and I’m so amazed, watching how the Lord worked with him, and just the support and outreach from the community is amazing. I’m forever grateful to Eric.”
Green said she has a new job.
“My goal is to be able to be a sponsor next year; that’s what I’m working toward,” she said.
Lamb, who is divorced, has two children, including an 11-year-old daughter he often takes with him to deliver the presents, “so she can see how blessed she is.”
He was raised in Monticello by his grandmother and “a house full of kids,” he said.
Desirea Washington, 28, of Benton said Lamb bought her children everything they asked for and more.
“Eric, he really blessed my children,” she said.
She has three children — a son, 9, a daughter, 4, and another son, born Dec. 3.” He came early; he wasn’t due till January,” she said.
Washington is on maternity leave as a caregiver for CareLink, she said, and Lamb started helping her three years ago.
“Basically, at the time, I was just moving down here from Oklahoma, and my children, I didn’t think they would actually have a Christmas,” she said. “It was an emergency move.”
Lamb even let Washington and the children stay for a short time at his house until she found a place to live, she said.
“He surprised us with gifts and all that with the children — basically, everything they asked for,” she said. “Most people wouldn’t get everything a child asks for, but he got everything they asked for.
“It’s the most exciting time of the year I’d ever had,” Washington said.
“My kids were so happy; they didn’t think it was going to be a Christmas and, at the time, my son, I think he was turning 7,” she said. “He didn’t get anything for his birthday, and he thought he wasn’t going to get anything for Christmas.”
She said Lamb has already given her a gift card to buy clothes for her new baby.
Washington has helped return the favor in the past by helping Lamb deliver gifts in Conway and Little Rock.
Short, whose seven children range in ages from 1 to 17, said earlier this month that Lamb has already delivered Christmas gifts to them.
“They opened them, and they were excited and really appreciative,” she said. “They got everything on their list, plus more.”
The best gift was “a little castle” for her 1 year-old, Short said.
She marvels at Lamb’s ministry.
“I think it is wonderful. Not only did he help me; he helped my sister, as well, and got my niece and nephew some things,” Short said. “He brought a smile to my babies’ faces and my nieces and nephews.
“He’s a good man.”
Lamb said that after a story about his ministry was televised, an automobile dealership in Little Rock offered him the use of a truck every Saturday to deliver presents across the state. He also had more requests from families for help.
“After the interview on TV, I had people hit me up,” he said. “My heart wouldn’t let me say no.”
Lamb said he wants to provide his ministry for at least 10 more years.
It might depend on whether he gets another vision.
“I’m always listening,” he said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.