Donations pour in after 7-year-old girl's letter to Santa asks for blanket, food

EDINBURG, Texas — A 7-year-old’s heartbreaking letter to Santa asking for a blanket, ball and food, brought in hundreds of donations to help her and other impoverished children at her school.

“I have (been) good this day,” Crystal Pacheco wrote. “This Christmas I would like a ball and a food. I need a (blanket).”

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The letter was part of a classroom exercise by Monte Cristo Elementary School first-grade teacher Ruth Espiricueta, who asked them to list two wants and a need.

"I started reading them and it's like, I did not expect her to say, 'I need food. I want food, but I need a blanket more,'" Espiricueta told KGBT. "And I asked, 'Well, why do you need a blanket more than the food?' 'Well, I get to eat at school -- sometimes I may not have at home, but I get to eat at school. A blanket I have one, but it's not warm enough.'"

Espiricueta posted the letter on social media, sparking hundreds of donations of blankets and other items to the school, according to KRGV.

"Unfortunately, there are other students that, as part of their needs, they included food, towels, blankets, pillows, bed, clothes, shoes and a stove," Espiricueta told ABC News. "Some of my students were not even excited about Christmas because they know that their parents cannot afford to buy a Christmas tree or gifts for them."

Crystal wrote the letter thinking about her brother, with whom she would use the ball, food for the family and the blanket because the house is too cold, her mother Maria Cortez told KRGV.

"I'm just very emotional and proud of my children, because I raise them to appreciate the little that we have," Cortez told KGBT.

The school hopes to get 724 blankets to give to each student, so far they have 616.

Cox Media Group