By Lindsay Eckert
WWKI
Mike Wyant walked into WWKI studios Friday morning – to auction off the right to flip the switch to We Care Park – far quieter than one would expect from someone who has given to the community in one of the brightest ways possible. Wyant simply took a seat and leaned over and said to me – I had been battling a case of on-air hiccups all morning and was actively recruiting people for remedies – “Do you know what really cures the hiccups?” I ask “What?” He replies with hands out and a loud “Boo”. “There, you’re cured. You just have to get scared.”
The ironic thing about getting help from Mike Wyant is I’m one of thousands. The city council member who is best known for transforming an idea in his mind into the legendary image that is We Care Park – featured on Today Show, even – can’t stop sharing: whether it’s sharing advice, help, ideas or sympathy. He’s a pivotal part of what makes We Care literally illuminate the community with the sharing of moments and making memories. Wyant, though, said sharing is simply an act he was born into.
“When you come from 16 children, you know how to share,” Wyant said, as he slid on his black-framed glasses. “We shared our whole lives, if someone asked ‘What shoe size do you wear?’ Our answer was usually any size between 8 and 13.”
Just as Wyant knows sharing, he empathizes with those who need a little more than what they’re able to earn.
“People ask a lot: ‘Why do you do all this?’ I do it because I know it; I know people helped us when I was a kid – we even carried leftovers from school lunches home. People just need help sometimes,” Wyant said.
Wyant knows the need for help, indeed, and he’s the leading hand in helping Kokomo as We Care Park lights up the community for the 42nd time Thanksgiving night.
“I met a pilot one time who told me he flew over it, but didn’t know what it was,” Wyant said, who knows just what it is and what it means to the community. “We furnish all the lights and we put them up for people. When we first started, people were so surprised and excited – that’s the best feeling”
That feeling of connecting with a community through goodwill is what started We Care Park. Nearly 50 years ago, Wyant heard a message coming through his radio waves that made him perk up in his chair and sent him to WWKI studios, just a couple years later We Care Park was born.
“I heard Dick and Charlie talking to a guy who needed money and Dick said, ‘I have $40 in my wallet, I’ll give you $20.’ I got up and my wife didn’t even know where I was going – I went [to WWKI} right then and then and gave them my $20,” Wyant said.
Then a few years later – during We Care telethon— Wyant saw another opportunity to help.
“I got here and saw that Sant-y was asleep and I said, ‘Can I help?’ He said, ‘Oh, that’d be great’. So, I went and got a Sant-y suit and came to play Sant-y,” Wyant, a slender-framed man, said.
The thing about Wyant is there is no way too small to help, despite helping in such a big way for so long.
As Wyant sat in with us on Male Call to auction the switch off for We Care Park – the honor went to Vernon Graves for $1,700 – Eriks Chevrolet, which faces extreme damages from the storm, called in and Wyant helped again – this time only with words.
“Tom, I want to you thank you. You’ve helped us so much for so many years and we truly understand if you can’t donate the car this year,” Wyant sincerely uttered. “I didn’t want to call and bother you, I know you’re going through a lot and it hasn’t been smooth.”
Although Eriks Chevrolet’s car they planned to donate was damaged in the tornado, the dealership is picking another.
Wyant replies with the keyword he uses at all times: teamwork – very few times do you ever hear Wyant say “I”, everything is “We”. Even in Wyant’s subconscious he values the work of his colleagues in their mission to help Kokomo.
“This just goes to show us the teamwork of Kokomo, and how blessed we are to all be part of Kokomo,” Wyant said. “If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned how lucky we are to call Kokomo home.
Wyant helps in all ways of We Care, whether it’s shining the skies and imprinting memories into families’ scrapbooks, lending kind words to the city he loves so much, or even buying a tree at We Care tree auction.
On Sunday night, Wyant, ironically, purchased the “Mr. Grinch” tree, which was created by Bon Air Schools.
Kevin and I, of course, had to ask: “How is it that the kindest heart in Kokomo bought the Grinch tree?”
“Oh, it’s going back to Bon Air Schools; we bought it for them,” Wyant said. “As long as my heart is still beating, I’ll be helping.”
See the results of a happily beating heart Thanksgiving night as we light We Care Park.
