LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — It's the most wonderful time of the year, and for the Jackson family, they hope their holiday decorations in Lee's Summit are also "magical" for visitors.
At the interchange of Blackwell and 50 Highway, passersby quickly notice the Jackson's holiday lights, music and inflatables.
There's also a porta-potty decorated in bright lights, called the "Lee's Summit Magic Potty."
"We had roundabouts here that were under construction and a porta-potty was forgotten," Troy Jackson said.
That happened seven years ago, and since then, the Jackson family makes it a tradition to decorate the Magic Potty. It's a tradition hundreds of families enjoy, as well.
"We had some friends swing by, took a selfie. They were on their way to the magic tree, which is another magic attraction, and they dubbed it the 'Magic Potty.' And then their friends told their friends, and then all of a sudden hundreds of selfies were being taken," Jackson said. "If you would’ve asked me that I’d be here talking to the news about a porta-potty that’s lit for the seventh year, I would’ve said, 'You’re crazy,' so I guess I’m crazy."
While the original purpose of the porta-potty is long gone, its new purpose is better than this community hoped for.
"There's a lot of people that stop by (the) Magic Potty every night, and we realized that maybe make some good out of a forgotten porta-potty," Jackson said. "What we kind of started really doing is asking for peanut butter, and peanut butter goes into the backpacks of the Lee's Summit students who are food insecure."
There's a donation barrel next to the popular holiday decoration, where visitors can drop off nonperishable items for Coldwater of Lee's Summit.
"In the week's time they have been open, they’ve collected over 600 pounds of food," Monte Stull, the community director of Coldwater of Lee's Summit, said. "It means a lot to us, especially right now because there’s so many individuals and families that are in need right now."
Coldwater serves roughly 220 people twice a month in need of its food pantry.
"We are probably about 43% higher now than we were this time last year, so the need is great," Stull said. "So, for something like the Magic Potty to bring us 600 pounds of food in a week's time makes a huge difference."
Over the course of seven years, the Magic Potty has donated thousands of pounds of food to Coldwater.
"We’re over 10,000 pounds now for the life of the potty and they’re delivered weekly, a couple times a week to Coldwater," Jackson said. "If you can add a little bit to the to the sweet smell of the potty, that’s what we’re going to do."
According to the Magic Potty's Facebook page, earlier this week, they delivered their second load to Coldwater and it totaled 307 pounds, which included 133 jars of peanut butter.
That brought their 2023 totals to 914 pounds of food, including 398 jars of peanut butter.
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