Millions of children send Santa Claus letters every Christmas. Many of them ask for toys, but this 7-year-old boy’s note in 2019 was a bit different.
Blake was living in Texas with his mother at the time he wrote the letter. For the holidays, he wished that St. Nick would bring him something that he longed to have: a “very, very good dad.”
“Dear Santa, We had to leave our house. Dad was insane. We had to do all the chores. Dad got everything he wanted,” the lad said in a handwritten letter shared by SafeHaven of Tarrant County on Facebook.
“Mom said it was time to leave and she would take us to a safer place where we don’t have to be scared.”
Blake and his mother arrived at the shelter just before Thanksgiving. According to the Facebook post by the non-profit agency helping the mother and son, the boy’s mom found the heartbreaking note a few weeks prior in his backpack.
“I’m still nervouse [sic]. I don’t want to talk to the other kids,” Blake continued in the letter. “Are you going to come this christmas [sic]? We don’t have any of our stuff here. You could bring some chapter books, a dictionary and a compass. I also want a very, very good dad. Can you do that too?”
Micah Thompson, the organization’s director of marketing, said that staff often find letters similar to Blake’s from other children, but they chose to share this one in particular.
Thompson said the letter “was an emotional mix of a normal kid asking for his wishes from Santa but also explaining what it’s like to be a child who is away from home in a scary place for the holidays.”
The note went viral and touched many hearts across the country.
SafeHaven posted the letter on their Facebook page and provided an update to let the public know that Blake is safe.
“We would never compromise that through a social media post or otherwise,” the organization wrote on Facebook. “Blake and his mom are safe! Thank you for your concern for his family.”
The most striking thing for staff was the response of the public. Many domestic violence survivors shared their stories through the comments.
“One in three women in Texas will experience domestic violence in their lifetime,” said Kathryn Jacob, president and CEO of SafeHaven. “Even though we inherently know that, what has been remarkable to us is the number of women commenting on those stories saying they can relate.”
SafeHaven organizes fun events and programs for families who are not able to live in their own homes.
One program, called “Santa’s Sack,” asks residents of the county to donate gifts for the kids. The organization then creates a “toy shop” where the moms can shop for presents at no cost to them.
SafeHaven received over 10,000 gifts that year from donors, which allowed them to give Blake everything he wanted and more for Christmas.
The shelter was able, thanks to the donations, to open a shop in the shelter so that the children could shop with their moms.
SafeHaven posted a December 2020 update on Blake and his mom.
“Blake is 8 now, and he and his mom are doing great – even through the pandemic,” the shelter wrote. They are hopeful that things will improve.
You can make a donation to SafeHaven of Tarrant County if you wish to help them.
If you are a victim or a survivor of domestic violence, you can also call their hotline at 1-877-701-7233. It’s free and available 24/7 all year round, and each call will be answered by a professionally trained bilingual staff.
For more information, please watch the video below.
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