Boy in domestic violence shelter penned viral letter to Santa. Thousands sent gifts.
The 7-year-old boy expressed in his letter to Santa Claus he wasn’t sure if the magical gift-giver was coming this year, after his “dad was mad” and he and his mother had to leave home. But he still wanted to ask for a few items, just in case.
The letter was shared on Facebook in late December by SafeHaven of Tarrant County, where the boy and his mother were staying, and became a viral Christmas story.
And countless people spent their holiday break trying to make the boy’s wishes come true.
SafeHaven staff members returned to work Thursday following New Year’s Day to find thousands of boxes of gifts from people who were inspired by the boy’s story, according to President and CEO Kathryn Jacob. The boxes, stacked high in rows and filling up a room, came from places as far as India, Germany and Brazil, she said. Several of them contained chapter books, dictionaries, compasses and watches — items the boy specifically requested.
Other people penned messages, like a mother who shared a letter her son wrote to the domestic violence organization since he also “doesn’t have a dad in the picture,” Jacob said.
If Santa came for him this year, he wanted to share his own gifts with the boy.
“We did not expect the outpouring of support,” Jacob said over the phone Friday. “It’s an embarrassment of riches, truly.”
The gifts had to be moved from the organization’s Fort Worth shelter to its Arlington shelter, where they’re sitting in the large gymnasium, she said. The thousands of gifts included items the organization desperately needs, like linens and sheets for beds, as well as gifts that will be given to children staying in the shelters.
The impact of the viral letter to Santa, Jacob said, was people felt compelled to help their domestic violence organization while hopefully fostering a conversation on the pervasive and complicated issue.
It also led to men coming forward to talk about the times in their lives they witnessed intimate partner violence, often stigmatized as an issue only affecting women, Jacob said. Hundreds of men called SafeHaven’s hotlines after seeing the Facebook post to say they saw themselves in the boy in the letter.
“One of the unintended consequences of this post is that it has gotten men who witnessed violence as children to talk about it for the first time,” Jacob said. “(They) had this opportunity to say, ‘We’re not alone. So many of us have lived through this.’”
SafeHaven’s shelters in Fort Worth and Arlington are open 24/7 to people fleeing domestic violence, and those individuals are never turned away, Jacob said. More than 60 calls come into the organization’s hotlines every day and more than 1,600 people have utilized its facilities, according to data on the SafeHaven website.
Jacob said Friday there are 109 people currently in its shelters, including 68 children. The 7-year-old boy who wrote the letter to Santa and his mother are still in a shelter.
Although members of the public might not have been able to help him with his biggest wish — for “a very very very good dad” — Jacob said the packages showed people were touched by his story.
SafeHaven had already received more than 10,000 packages in the run-up to Christmas through its Santa’s Sack program to collect gifts for children, she said. But the items that came after the viral letter, she said, will help the organization follow through on its promise to give every child a present when they arrive and a present when they leave.
Staff didn’t initially think the letter was too remarkable because “we hear these stories every day,” Jacob said. But she’s glad the boy’s heartfelt message has connected with people around the world.
If anything, she hopes it caused people to have a conversation about the prevalence and the effects of domestic violence.
“Any time we can raise awareness about intimate partner violence, we want to make sure we take advantage of that,” Jacob said. “It’s such a pervasive issue ... it may happen in secret, but it is not a secret.”
Anyone going through domestic violence can call SafeHaven’s hotline at 1-877-701-7233.
