Word of the accident quickly spread and thousands of people nation-wide joined in the prayer effort for Maggie Lee as well as other youth critically injured as well as for the family of Brandon Ugarte who was killed. The Hensons set up a Caring bridge website to disseminate medical information efficiently from Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, MS. Friends, teachers and acquaintances alike shared stories of how unusually compassionate, sweet and funny Maggie Lee was. Amazingly, between July 12 and August 2, over 250,000 visits were made to the site. Though thousands prayed for God to save this minister’s daughter, no miracle came.
Despite fighting for her life for three weeks, Maggie Lee was declared brain dead on August 2, 2009. The final generous gift of this extraordinary young lady was that of organ donation.
With Maggie Lee’s 13th birthday just months away Kelli Alamond from Texarkana, TX, suggested to the Hensons that they try and get 1,300 people to do a good deed to honor her. Jinny Henson set up a Facebook page and website and by October 29, 2009, over 18,000 people participated in Maggie Lee for Good Day.
The MLFG projects ranged from entire schools participating in food drives, a jeweler designing a pewter necklace in honor of Maggie Lee, T-shirts sold whose proceeds paid for a water well in Africa. Little girls donated pony tails to Locks of Love, lemonade stands raised money for charity and coat drives, food drives and even dog food drives were held. A Rubble House was built in Haiti and food pantries, homeless shelters ad non-profit agencies from Seattle to Houston and Caracas, Venezuela to Kaiserslautern, Germany benefitted from the good deeds done on October 29th.
Each year the Maggie Lee for Good Movement has spread and projects become greater in number as well as originality and reach. Organizations such as Chick-Fil-A and Community Renewal International have jumped on board. In 2011, Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, moved by the continued outpouring of good deeds, declared October 29th “Maggie Lee for Good Day,” urging all Shreveporters to follow Maggie Lee’s example and commit one act of kindness in her honor.
The Hensons have recorded their story in Smyth & Helwys Publishing’s Maggie Lee for Good (ISBN 978-1-57312-630-4).