UNION, Ohio — For most, the beginning of January is the time to take down the Christmas decorations. But for one Union woman, the fun is just getting started.

What You Need To Know

  • Frank has lived on Starr's porch for three years.

  • She started decorating him for Christmas after an angry note from her neighbor
  • She documented his story on a Facebook page amassing hundreds of thousands of followers

  • She used Frank's fame to raise money for Dayton's food bank

For the past three years, Denise Starr's front porch has been home to a certain guardian.

“I’ve had the gargoyle for three years now and he’s just kind of sat on the porch,” she said.

Starr dubbed him Frank and he was always quite popular among her friends. However, this Christmas season, Frank made at least one enemy but many more friends and is now raising money for a local food bank.

“One day I found a note taped to the front door that I should move my gargoyle because he’s ugly and not in keeping with the meaning of Christmas,” Starr said.

At first, she was offended, but then Starr got an idea.

“I thought well I can fix that. So I put the Santa hat on him and then put the tree beside him in the little fake snow and I’m like well, there you go, he’s festive,” she said.

The notes didn’t stop.

So neither did Starr.

She added new friends for Frank every day, documenting the progress and pushback on a Facebook page called “Frank the Christmas Gargoyle."

“My whole goal was just to entertain myself,” Starr said.

She realized after sharing the first few pictures that Frank’s story struck a chord. Within the month, the page got hundreds of thousands of followers.

Among those were many frontline workers, thanking Starr for providing some levity during a difficult holiday season.

“It just made people not think about maybe the bad things that had happened this year,” she said.

Some sent more toys to join Frank, others sent letters and others offered donations to the cause.

Starr said the gesture was nice but it didn’t seem right to keep the money. Instead, she opened up a fundraiser for those who really needed it.

“Thinking maybe, hopefully, I’ll get three or $4,000 for the foodbank out of it,” she said. “Well, I had $4,000 in the first 10 minutes.”

A week later, it grew to more than $65,000, going directly to the Foodbank Inc. in Dayton.

Starr plans to keep the fundraiser up as long as people keep donating.

The same goes for Frank.

“It’s been a pretty bad year for most everybody this year and so being able to make people laugh even a little bit is kind of a cool thing to do,” she said.

Now in the new year, Starr hopes Frank will have plenty more to celebrate.

He brought in 2021 with a bang and dressed up for the Ohio State victory against Clemson.

She hopes he’ll be able to spread cheer well beyond his stoop for months to come.

To donate, visit the “Frank the Christmas Gargoyle" Facebook page.