OPINION: A Christmas Eve peek behind an angel tree wish list

Dec. 23—A small poster saying "Merry Christmas" adorns a wall over Roman Herrera's bed, just above a menagerie of his favorite stuffed animals.

Born with cerebral palsy, Herrera is blind and cannot talk or walk. He's 32, with the mind of a 2-year-old.

"He's my baby, my happy baby," said his mother, Lisa Herrera, of East Chicago.

Her son makes sounds to communicate his feelings — happy, angry, hurting, hungry, sleepy. He can only say "ama" for mama and "apa" for papa. Otherwise, his efforts to talk sound like a baby's gurgling. His family talks to him as if he doesn't have special needs. He responds with laughs or screams or odd sounds.

For Christmas this year, he will be getting a case of baby wipes, baby food, baby cereal, two blankets and a stuffed musical toy. He loves the sounds these toys make. The gifts came from strangers who donated to an angel tree program in his city.

"I appreciate it beyond words," his mother said.

Paying It Forward Wishes & Heroes was founded by Tamye Longoria, who's operated the nonprofit for nine years. Its angel tree program has brightened Christmases for hundreds of children across the area who would otherwise have very little under the tree or stuffed into their stocking.

"One of the reasons I do my angel tree every year is to keep hope and faith alive in these children's hearts," Longoria told me. "When you choose a child from an angel tree, you aren't just buying them a gift to put under their tree. You're helping a child believe in the magic of Christmas. You're helping a parent who is down on their luck believe in kindness. And to have faith they may have lost in humanity. You're helping to keep that little boy or girl's heart from breaking."

This year, for the first time, Longoria turned her decorated storefront into a "Shop with Santa" giveaway leading up to Christmas.

"Just another way to spread the Christmas spirit this holiday season and to bring joy to local children. Their joy is priceless," she said. "We really go out of the way to try to keep the children's belief in Santa alive so they believe it's Santa, not us, who give them the gifts."

Another mother whose children received gifts this year told me that her family wouldn't have any gifts to open on Christmas Day if not for this angel tree program. "My little kids think Tamye is Santa Claus," she said.

On Christmas Eve, the mother of seven from Gary will wrap gifts she's received from strangers who she will never meet. Toy cars, Nerf guns, baby dolls, pajamas and winter coats, among other presents, all hidden in her shed so her kids can't find them.

"My oldest children are very grateful," she said. "They help volunteer throughout the year and at Christmastime. Even the little ones were elves this year."

Longoria hasn't forgotten when she was a young girl writing to Santa one Christmas for a Telephone Tammy doll.

"I was sure he would bring it to me," she recalled. "I didn't know we were poor."

She never got that doll. She got a Christmas outfit and a winter coat, handed down from her older cousins.

"I still remember the other children at school laughing when I said my favorite gift was my coat. Most of them received toys and lots of them," Longoria said.

The following year was different.

"It was the year someone put our family on an angel tree," Longoria said.

That year, strangers donated Christmas gifts and boxes brimming with holiday spirit.

"I remember opening the door on Christmas morning and there were lots of boxes left on our front porch, filled with food for our family and gifts for all of us. That was one of the happiest Christmases I remember as a child," she said. "It's a gift I have never forgotten. Not because of the gifts. But because someone cared enough to go out of their way to help us have a wonderful Christmas."

She's paying it forward, one Christmas at a time, one gift at a time.

A 7-year-old girl once asked Longoria what she did wrong to not get a Christmas present from Santa. Was she not good enough that year? Did she not help her mother enough? Longoria felt horrible for the girl.

"Santa did come that year and granted that little girl's wishes, thanks to our angel tree," Longoria said. "I made certain of it."

Some children on the angel tree list are kids whose mothers are living in shelters or safe havens after experiencing domestic abuse or violence. Others are foster children living away from their parents during the holidays. The older kids on the angel tree list understand that their parents don't have the money for Christmas gifts. Each situation is poignant yet seasonal.

"It's nothing compared to the small children who still believe in Santa and don't understand," Longoria said.

When Herrera first heard about this angel tree program, she didn't think her adult son would qualify.

"But Tamye said yes," she said. "She and her organization have brought so many children and families so much happiness."

On Saturday, Christmas morning, Herrera's son will again be eager to open his presents, with his mother's help.

"He tries to eat the wrapping paper," she joked.

jdavich@post-trib.com

https://www.facebook.com/JerDavich/

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