Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
RIVERTON -- Four brothers are bringing Christmas to over a dozen Utah families who otherwise wouldn't have had it. They are also helping kids in Guatemala -- and it's all because of their little sister.
Three-year-old Ellie is the darling of the family. She was adopted when she was just a baby from a small, poor village in Guatemala.
To help that village, her four brothers founded The Four of Hearts, a foundation that strives to make kids' lives better.
"The village Ellie came from has 278 children and 37 babies. We made it a goal to send each child a gift this Christmas, and we reached that goal," explained Ellie's brother Blake Kirkpatrick.
Christmas gifts are just the beginning.
"Hopefully (we will) be able to get down there and get clean water going and houses built," Blake said.
Besides helping kids in Guatemala, The Four of Hearts -- which has grown to involve friends as well as family -- also helped families in Utah.
"We've got Christmas lists from kids and parents," Blake said, "and we got every single thing the kids asked for, which is pretty cool."
The boys helped over a dozen local families.
For A.J. Ronnebeck, a friend of the Kirkpatricks who became part of the project, the joy they bring to others is his reward.
"Like the feeling I get when I see the smiles on the parents' and children's faces when we take Christmas to them because they otherwise wouldn't have had it," he said.
T.J. Kirkpatrick agrees. "I don't think there is anything better than to help other people," he said.
"I'd rather be doing this than sitting at home playing video games," Blake said.
The boys let KSL tag along as they delivered presents to one family, but we stayed outside to give that family some privacy.
Little Ellie stayed home, too. She's a little to young to understand all of this started because of her, but her older brothers say they hope she'll think it's cool when she gets older.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
