Girl's Letter To Santa Inspires Blanket Drive At Texas School

A 7-year-old Texas girl's heartbreaking letter to Santa asking for a blanket inspired a blanket drive at her elementary school and now nearly every child at the school will get one for Christmas.

"I have binde (been) good this day," Crystal Pacheco wrote. "This Christmas I would like a ball and a food. I need a blancet."

Pacheco's teacher, Ruth Espiricueta, shared the letter on her Facebook page and the school's principal, Diana Smith, subsequently shared it on her page. The letter was widely shared and members of the community responded by donating blankets, toys and food to the school, The Valley Town Crier reported.

"This makes me very sad," Espiricueta wrote. "When your students ask for food, blankets, or a bed instead of toys (followed by an emoji of a sad face). As a teacher it breaks my heart when I hear them ask for things that we sometimes take for granted. Hopefully I will be able to fulfill at least one of their Christmas wishes."

Espiricueta told KGBT she shared the letter after asking Crystal why she thought she wanted food but needed a blanket. Crystal told her she gets to eat at school and though she has a blanket, it isn't warm enough.

Now the goal is to reach 724 blankets, one for each student at Monte Cristo Elementary School. So far, the school has collected more than 600 blankets.

The Valley Town Crier reported that 96 percent of the school is economically disadvantaged. Edinburg school district Superintendent Rene Gutierrez told the paper roughly 70 percent of the students in the school district face an economic disadvantage.

“Some students go home and they don’t have a heater,” Gutierrez said. “They may not have food on the table, may not have the basic needs to study and do homework.”

Below is the letter Crystal Pacheco wrote.

Photo via Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District, used with permission