It’s the time of year for joyous stories, sharing food with loved ones, and of course, Santa. However, for some, the holiday season brings a lot of other things. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one recently and the holidays seem painful without them. Or, maybe you are one of the millions of people who suffer from seasonal depression. Or, if you’re like Blake, maybe Santa is your last hope for a normal Christmas at all.
Blake was 7-years old when he and his mom spent the holidays in a domestic violence shelter back in 2019. The two had left a bad situation, and Blake reached out to the one person he thought could maybe help, Santa. He wrote a heartwrenching letter to Santa, and placed it in his backpack to drop off later that day. But, his mom noticed the letter and read it…her heart shattered. She shared it with the people at the SafeHaven domestic violence shelter, who then shared it on their Facebook page.
The Letter to Santa
The letter little Blake wrote to Santa read,
“Dear Santa,
We had to leave our house. Dad was mad. We had to do all the chores. Dad get everything he wanted. Mom said it was time to leave and she would take us to a safer place where we don’t have to be scared. I’m still nervous. I don’t want to talk to the other kids. Are you going to come this Christmas? We don’t have any of our stuff here. Can you bring some chapter books, a dictionary, and a compass and a watch? I also want a very very very good dad. Can you do that too?
Love, Blake.”
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In an interesting turn of events, the letter to Santa went viral. Everyone wanted to help Blake get a few Christmas presents to make his holiday a bit better. Although they couldn’t help with the dad part, they wanted to do what they could.
“We never anticipated it would get the kind of attention that it has gotten,” Kathryn Jacob, the president and CEO of the nonprofit shelter SafeHaven, said to TODAY.
The shelter received so many donations, they were able to give Blake everything he wanted on the list. The books, the compass, the dictionary, and a watch!
Safe Haven
Kathryn Jacob told TODAY that as heartbreaking as Blake’s story is, it’s not unique.
“To us, it was kind of a story that we’ve heard all the time,” she said in an interview with TODAY on Wednesday. “Like tonight, we have 73 kids in the shelter. So Blake is just one of many.”
TODAY.
However, what did strike Kathryn as interesting was how many women commented on the post saying they could relate.
“One in three women in Texas will experience domestic violence in their lifetime,” she explained. “Even though we inherently know that, what has been remarkable to us is the number of women commenting on those stories saying they can relate.”
TODAY.
Even though this story happened in 2019, it is still relevant today. Women and children are still in domestic violence shelters during this holiday season too. So, if you can, go drop off something nice to remind them that maybe Santa does still exist for a few kids.
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Sources
- “7-year-old boy living in shelter writes heartbreaking letter to Santa.” TODAY. Samantha Kubota. December 17, 2019
- “Safe Haven” Facebook.