OPERATION NOEL: Donate to help grandmother who raises her five grandchildren

Her grandchildren call her “La Jefa,” or the chief. Maria Garcia is an El Paso woman who raised her children and later learned she wasn’t going to be able to enjoy retirement. Now she’s taking care of her grandchildren, Ali, Angie and Simon for six years.

Their mother abandoned them at a foster home and Garcia fought for three years to gain custody of them. She also has custody of another son’s two children, meaning she has to take care of five children and make ends meet with her Social Security disability check.

“Shoes, pants, clothing,” Garcia said. “That’s what we need, but we find a way to get by.”

Garcia said it breaks her heart when she can’t buy her grandchildren the brand name items they want, especially since they help her around the house and get good grades in school.

“I wanted to be a doctor when I grow older,” said Angelina, her granddaughter.

“The best one I love is science,” said Ali. “It’s fun.”

Garcia said sometimes the holiday season can be very difficult and sad because the children wish they could get a Christmas present from their mother. Instead, they have to accept what she can afford to give them, which is why she’s thankful for your donations to Operation Noel.

ABC-7’S Annual Operation Noel Telethon will be next Thursday. A donation of $13.50 will help pay for one jacket.

You can donate by clickinghere.

For more than 70 years, Operation Noel has looked out for some of our area’s neediest children.

The charity has evolved over the years, but its primary mission today is to provide new winter coats to more than 20,000 children in the region whose families cannot afford to buy the coats for them. This is possible through community donations both individual and corporate. One hundred percent of the donations go toward paying the bill for the new coats, which is approximately $270,000.00, or approximately $13.50 per coat.

For many area children, Operation Noel is their only hope of getting a new winter coat. Over the years, we have heard of Operation Noel coats being passed on to younger children in the family.

The children who receive the coats are identified by area social workers, educators and school counselors.