Military member builds Christmas light display, collects food donations

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — The season of giving is not over just yet. One neighbor in Leland has lit up the block with tens of thousands of lights for a good cause.

Tyler Ford has been decking the halls with Christmas lights for years. The past few years, he’s decided to turn it into a way to give back.

“Folks are going to come by and see our lights anyway,” Ford said. “I would just rather try to pay it forward in some aspect.”

It’s become a tradition that grows every year on Buff Court in Leland.

“My family has been doing it for years, and then we brought it from my last station down here,” he said.

Ford is in the military. When his family moved here several years ago, he wanted to bring some joy along with them.

“This community has been nothing but the best to us,” Ford said.

The 50,000 lights are much more than just a display during the holiday season. When people come by to see the lights, Ford asks everyone to drop off canned good donations to the food bank at Love of Christ Church in Bolivia.

“What we can contribute and pay forward to anybody else, that’s just a bonus,” he said.

Ford encourages everyone to come see their magical display and leave an item on the way out. He says the donations get picked up and delivered to the church every week during the holiday season.

“Between what we’ve been able to gather here and some of the monetary donations, again, all of it goes directly to them, we’ve been able to surpass 1,000 pounds of food,” he said.

Like the holiday celebrations, Ford’s project is not over just yet. By the end of the year, he hopes to reach 1,500 pounds of food.

“We don’t make the biggest dent in the world,” he said. “We don’t need to. It starts with the small stuff, and that’s where we’d like to start.”

To Ford, it’s about giving back to the community that has given him so much.

If you still want to check out Ford’s light display, you have until December 31. You can also drop off a canned good in the box, or leave a monetary donation in the lockbox out front.