Frank the Christmas Gargoyle
Frank, the Christmas Gargoyle, is as his name namesake would suggest, is a gargoyle, yet the Christmas title wasn’t part of his moniker before December 2019. Frank, a heavy stone sculpture, stood guard on Denise Starr’s porch for three years before a nosy Karen began leaving notes that Frank was out of step with the Christmas holiday, demanding his removal. Starr refused and instead doubled down, adding a Santa hat, you know, to make Frank more festive. Karen left more notes decrying Frank’s new attire. Starr added friends to stand with Frank including, Christmas hippos and a skeleton dog. When COVID-19 hit, Starr added a plague doctor to the mix.
It should be noted that Frank wasn’t Starr’s first run-in with her crabby neighbor. Previously, Karen had complained about Starr’s holiday decorations, which included an inflatable hippo. Hippos are beloved by Starr, but Karen informed her that hippos aren’t Christmasy. Those Karens, they sure do know everything. Am I right?
As a means of chronicling Frank’s saga, Starr started a Facebook page. It didn’t take long for Frank to win the heart of the internet, and his story went viral. Starr decided to capitalize on Frank’s fame and began raising money for a Food Bank, INC in Dayton, Ohio.
Hoping that Frank’s fan base would raise about $4k for the food bank over the month-long fundraiser might have been putting too little stock in Frank’s pull. But, instead, the fundraiser brought in $4k in the first ten minutes. In a week, over $65k had been raised.
Starr’s pesky neighbor didn’t take kindly to Starr’s refusal to remove Frank or the addition of his new friends. Karen wrote a letter of complaint to their HOA as well as the mayor. Starr retaliate with a poster of Kevin McAllister cooly staring into the camera with the quote, “Are you guys giving up yet? Or are you thirsty for more?
Yes, please, can we have some more?
Since starting the Facebook page, over 700k followers have watched Frank’s saga unfold. In addition, Starr has received fanart of Frank, pictures of other people’s holiday skeletons, and notes of encouragement.
In lieu of removing the prised family member from his post at the door, Starr instead decided to turn a joke into an act of charity. Throughout the year, Frank donned any number of holiday outfits, and the cash kept rolling in. Over $250k has been raised for various charities including, food banks, the Hospice of Dayton, the Gary Sinise Foundation, and the Cincinnati Zoo, not to mention people Frank inspired to give to their local institutions.
Just think, if that nosy Karen hadn’t complained about Frank, Starr might not have started fundraising. So for once, we can say, “Thank you, Karen. You’re still lame AF, but thank you.”
If you would like to join Team Frank and get in on the shenanigans, head over to his Facebook page. You can even sport your very own Frank-themed t-shirt, the proceeds for which go to various charities.
Photo credits:
All photos were used with the permission of Denise Starr.
