7-year-old student's heart-breaking letter to Santa inspires overwhelming support

When a 7-year-old student wrote to Santa asking for food and a blanket, her town stepped up and made her Christmas wishes come true — for her and her fellow students in need.

First grade teacher Ruth Espiricueta at Monte Cristo Elementary shared a heart-breaking letter that one of her students wrote to Santa Claus for class, asking for food, a blanket, and a ball. Support immediately began to pour in from sympathetic neighbors and friends who jumped at the chance to donate items to the students of Monte Cristo Elementary.

Local news station KRGV reported that the ball was meant to be a gift for the young girl's brother, according to their mother.

"As a teacher it breaks my heart when I hear [students] ask for things that we sometimes take for granted," Espiricueta wrote on Facebook.

Espiricueta elaborated in the comments that it wasn't just this one student who was in need of some basic goods during the holiday season, saying other students asked for things like water and towels.

"Some of our babies have no heat at home during these cold days," she wrote. "Some were not even excited about Christmas break. They didn't see the point in Christmas."

Commenters on the Facebook post shared their sympathies, with many offering to donate blankets, food, money, and jackets to students at the school. Espiricueta inspired a donation drive to get every student in the school a blanket.

A couple days later, Espiricueta posted an update: "Thank you to everyone that has been donating to Crystal and her family and to our students at Monte Cristo Elementary. Our students will be able to have a blessed and Merry Christmas."

According to KRGV, Monte Cristo Elementary has received over 600 blankets as of Friday, closing in on its goal of 724.