This is your chance to help George Bailey. Let me explain.

I have always been a sucker for It’s a Wonderful Life.

As with all great movies, the best part comes at the end. George Bailey has spent his life putting his dreams on hold, helping his family and friends around him, all the while watching as his hopes to leave Bedford Falls and make something more of himself recede.

But it looks like it’s all come to ruin. All he can manage is a leaky old house for his loving wife and kids. The business his father left him, the Bailey Building and Loan and THE hope of the town, is going bankrupt because his uncle/partner screwed up. Now they both face jail.

George comes home, preparing to break the news to his family. All his years of strife and sacrifice and struggle have come to worse than nothing.

But when he walks in, he finds his wife and friends already knew. They knew he needed help. They knew what he had always meant to the town, but had never thanked him. The movie ends with a shower of help and money (to save the Bailey Building and Loan) and a crowd saying thanks for all he’d ever done and that they’d never put into words.

Well, now is your chance to help George Bailey. But this one is from Paradise and his name is Andy Hopper.

Those in the Paradise High School Football community know some of this story. In some ways Hopper has been at the heart of this wonderful Bobcat comeback, all while suffering a heart attack and two open heart surgeries.

He needs our help. So watch this video, and then follow this link to help:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/coach-hopper-amp-family-medical-fund

Over the last year, we’ve all learned what it means for friends, neighbors and strangers to reach out in a time of need. Some of us are back on our feet enough to start giving to others, so let’s do it.

Let’s give Andy Hopper his George Bailey moment.