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Globe Santa

Homeless but not hopeless, family seeks help from Globe Santa

Bill Connolly accepted a donation from Ramona Sequeira and Andy Plump of Takeda.Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe

A young mother and her 2-year-old daughter have spent more than a year in a family shelter southwest of Boston.

But the woman wrote in a letter to Globe Santa that the two are safe and she believes the day will come soon when they leave the shelter system for friendlier surroundings.

“My goal for my daughter is to make sure her experience, as well as mine, is happy and healthy and to help her understand that her mother can and will make good things happen for us,” she said in her letter.

That said, the single mother knew she needed assistance if her toddler was going to have presents from Santa Claus this Christmas. What little money she receives in assistance is spent on food and clothing, leaving nothing for toys, books, games and other gifts.

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“We have definitely had a rough year,” the little girl’s mother wrote. “I need help to give my daughter the best Christmas because I have been struggling emotionally and physically to take care of her on my own.”

Another young mother from a city northwest of Boston wrote to Globe Santa to say that she recently succeeded in finding an affordable apartment, ending a year-long saga of living with relatives or in homeless shelters.

She has an 11-year-old son who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which has further complicated his ability to handle the instability associated with moving several times in a short time span.

But their new stable living situation has allowed the youngster to get settled.

“Instead of concentrating on school he was always worried about finding new friends, until now,” his mother wrote. “He attends a great school and was able to meet new kids and classmates this summer because they live in our neighborhood. He’s a great kid, very active and loved by everyone.”

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The family finances are still a struggle, her letter continued, and they simply don’t have enough money for anything extra, even at Christmas. Accepting that reality was hard, but it gave her the courage to ask Globe Santa for a hand.

“I would do anything to make this Christmas memorable and happy for him,” she wrote.

These children will indeed find presents from Santa Claus on Christmas morning, as the two families join thousands of others on Globe Santa’s list.

You can help make dreams like these a reality by giving to Globe Santa by mail, phone, or online at globesanta.org.


Christopher Tangney can be reached at ctangney22@ hotmail.com