It was the miracle on Thrasher Street.
Ten-year-old Dylan Rosier woke up Christmas morning to find the lawn of his home – and only his home – white with snow and ice.
“My mom said, ‘Come here, come here, look!,” recounted Dylan.
“She said, ‘What do you see?”
Dylan replied, “Well I see a board.”
“Come outside,” said his mom.
And upon stepping outside, Dylan’s eyes got very wide and his mouth just about hit the ground.
His wish for a white Christmas had come true.
It all started when Dylan, a homeschooled student and leukemia patient undergoing the first year of treatment with two and a half years to go, made a special request to Santa Claus in a photo studio to have snow on Christmas Day.
Little did Dylan know his request would touch the hearts not only of friends and family, but also of neighbors, co-workers and complete strangers across the country.
Photographer Jennifer Snook, whose father had passed away from leukemia, got to work setting up a page on gofundme.com. Her husband Patrick, an officer with Henry County police, got on the phone scouring the country for a snowmaker to rent. The Henry County chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police stepped in to help pay for the machines, as did many other individuals, companies and organizations, such as Glen Haven Baptist Church.
On Christmas Eve, Operation Snow was in full gear. Dylan slept soundly through the night as thousands of pounds of ice were delivered. More than 40 people, including officers from Henry County, Clayton County, Spalding county, Troopers, church members from Glen Haven Baptist, and neighbors who stopped by after seeing what was going on, worked through the wee hours of the morning making snow with two snow makers - the kind used at Stone Mountain. The machines weren’t able to make quite as much snow as they had hoped due to the humidity, said Dylan’s dad Benny Rosier, so the volunteers ended up crushing blocks of ice by hand to spread snow across the lawn.
Dylan’s mom, Brandy Moon, said they had just moved to Rockdale from Stockbridge in August and they were able to meet so many of their neighbors who stepped up to volunteer.
