'Christmas miracle': Middle school fills apartment with gifts for mom with breast cancer

Kristin Ramirez looked around her living room filled with piles of wrapped Christmas gifts covering every surface.

"I can't believe that one school did that," she said. "I think they are amazing. That is literally the definition of a Christmas miracle."

On Wednesday, students, their parents and teachers from Grisham Middle School carried gift after gift into the Ramirez apartment. Each gift was labeled with the name of the recipient — Ramirez, 43, or one of her six children: Gia, 16; Michael, 10; Isaiah, 9; Gabriel, 7; Matthew, 6; and Fenix, 4.

"It's all for you," eighth grader Aly Faehnle told the family.

Grisham art teacher Kristin Goodman has led the school's Season for Caring project since it began in 2010, when Goodman asked her students to contribute gifts for a Season for Caring family instead of giving her Christmas gifts.

The giving has snowballed. This year, the school collected more than $10,000 worth of gifts for the family and $7,020 worth of gift cards.

"I've never seen people come together like this before," Ramirez told the students. "What you did is a Christmas miracle. I honestly, I don't have words."

Her children were also amazed:

"You all are the best!" Matthew said. "I am happy, I feel grateful, and I love them."

"I think they are the best elves Santa can have," Gabriel said.

Fenix later told the school's teachers, "I love you."

Ramirez has stage 3 beast cancer and is a single mom after experiencing domestic violence. She is working full time while undergoing treatments.

"You are the model of resilience," Goodman told Ramirez as she gave her a hug.

Ramirez was nominated to the Statesman's Season for Caring program by Breast Cancer Resource Center.

Read more: Kristin Ramirez, single Austin mom of six, faces stage 3 breast cancer | Season for Caring

Each year, the Statesman highlights the needs of about a dozen families nominated by local nonprofit organizations. The organizations take care of their featured family's needs first and then are able to help many more families with basic needs such as rent, groceries, medical care and transportation.

When Grisham Middle School picks one family in its giving campaign, it allows that nonprofit organization to complete the family's wish list quickly and use more money to help many other families.

Grisham, which is in Austin but in the Round Rock school district, sets up a leadership team to pick the family and organize the giving effort.

"They seemed like they were having a really rough time," Aly said. "It's a mom with stage 3 breast cancer and six kids; that's a whole lot."

Season for Caring is "a really cool thing we do to help a family that is struggling," said sixth grader Penelope Brooksbank, "It's a nice thing that we do every season."

Learn more: 12 families featured in the 25th Season for Caring program. Here's how you can help.

The kids look forward to each December. They make posters and fill the school hallways. They pass out flyers around the neighborhood.

"A lot of them stepped outside their comfort zone to ask," Goodman said.

"What a good lesson this is," said Kati Garrett, the school's theater teacher, who has joined Goodman in the effort.

This year, passing out flyers in the neighborhood paid off: A mother of former Grisham students donated iPads for each of the family's six children, Calibur Collision on RM 620 donated $420, and an anonymous business gave $1,000 in gift cards.

William Usey, a fifth grader who will go to Grisham next year, held a virtual hot cocoa sale and secured more than $600 in gift cards.

Anonymous siblings at the school pooled their allowance money and gave each of the kids either a scooter or a skateboard.

"Everybody gives in their own way," Goodman said. "The kids who spread the word, maybe they didn't have the money to give, but they helped out the most."

As passionate as the teachers are about art and theater, "something like this is a chance for us to take those skills that we learn in our classrooms and teach kids the most valuable lesson of all, which is being kind," Goodman said.

It's a great lesson in community service, Garrett said. "It's a great way to serve our community and to learn how much joy we can get from giving to others."

In addition to the abundance of gifts, the school will connect Ramirez to a mentor to help her write a children's book about cancer.

The only things left on Ramirez's wish list are a gently used minivan, driver's education lessons for Gia and a vehicle she can drive, and an attorney to help Ramirez receive child support.

To find out more about Ramirez’s family or to give an item on the wish list, contact Breast Cancer Resource Center at 512-524-2560 or bcrc.org.

About Season for Caring

The Statesman will be sharing the stories of all 12 Season for Caring families throughout the holiday season. Find more stories and information at statesman.com/seasonforcaring. You can donate online or use the coupon on Page 2B and mail it to Austin Community Foundation, c/o Statesman Season for Caring, 4315 Guadalupe St., Suite 300, Austin, TX 78751. Make checks payable to “Statesman Season for Caring.” Today is the last day all monetary donations will be matched up to $500,000 by the Sheth family.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Grisham Middle School donates Christmas gifts to mom with cancer