“The Best Gift I Have Ever Received.”

The look on her daughters’ faces that Christmas morning is forever saved in Melanie’s heart.

“The holidays are amazing and beautiful but can also be painful and stressful when you are in a situation as mine,” says Melanie, a single mother of two girls.

Through a series of challenging circumstances, Melanie and her daughters wound up living in a shelter last year. Thankfully, friends like you who support The Salvation Army helped them get back on their feet, and just before the holiday season they were able to move into a new apartment. Melanie was so thankful. “The Salvation Army came in and took the pain and stress away,” she says.

With the expense of moving into a new place, Melanie knew she would be unable to provide any kind of Christmas celebration for her children. “I had a talk with my girls and explained that we had the gift of a home and we should be grateful with that,” Melanie recalls. The kids agreed without hesitation. They were just happy to have a place to call home.

Even so, Melanie’s Salvation Army case manager showed up two days before Christmas with bags of gifts for the girls—gifts made possible through our Angel Tree program. Melanie hid them, then put them under the tree for Christmas morning.

“The girls’ faces lit up from the gifts under the tree,” Melanie said. “They received the most beautiful and thoughtful gifts—presents I would have picked out myself. I will never forget the look on their faces that morning. That was the best gift I have ever received.”