Letter to Santa ends up at East Village bar, but wishes still come true
EAST VILLAGE, Manhattan -- Every Christmas Santa gets millions of letters asking for gifts, but sometimes those letters get lost on their way to the North Pole.
And sometimes those letters really catch your attention.
"It's very modest the stuff that she was requesting," said Idalia Limon of B Bar and Grill in the East Village.
Somehow that letter ended up at the bar on East 4th Street.
"It's a mother that works hard for her children and she's trying to do her best for her children and we put ourselves in her shoes and it just touches our hearts," said Limon.
"Dear Santa Claus", the letter starts out.
Mom talks about her 9 and 8-year-old daughters and how they help her with their baby sister.
"I want to get good Christmas presents for these three treasures...but I do not have enough money," she says.
Then she asks for shoes and clothes. That's why the folks at B Bar and Grill couldn't just throw the letter away.
So they reached out to Eyewitness News, hoping we could find the mother of three. We found her: Scheila Gonzalez and her 3 beautiful daughters from Hamilton Heights.
After losing her job a few years ago, Scheila went back to school, and two months ago she started a new job housekeeping.
She says her kids don't need toys. There are basic things they really need.
"Most of the kids bring new clothes, new sneakers, new backpacks for school and my two daughters wear the same sneakers they use in the summer and I didn't see any complaining," said Scheila.
We gave her a chance to connect with the workers at B Bar and Grill, who are giving Scheila a gift card so she can buy her daughters shoes and clothes, and a little extra so mom can get something for herself too.
So what do the kids want for mom?
"First of all I don't want her to have another baby," said daughter Scarlett Olivares. "Because she's having her hands full. I also want her to get something that she really wants for Christmas."
It looks like what mom really wants for Christmas, she already has.
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