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A mother’s Craigslist plea brings her kids a Christmas they’ll never forget
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-mothers-craiglist-plea-brings-her-kids-a-christmas-theyll-never-forget/2016/12/25/1a8a053c-cada-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html
A mother’s Craigslist plea brings her kids a Christmas they’ll never forget
Tyshika Britten tosses gifts to one of her sons waiting with open arms. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
By Michael S. Rosenwald and Theresa Vargas December 25 at 4:44 PM
Donnell Booker Jr. tore through the wrapping paper on Christmas morning, revealing a seven-inch Kindle Fire and a smile nearly as wide.
“This is my tablet,” the 8-year-old said. “My tablet. Who got me this?”
It wasn’t his mother or father, even though they were dressed as elves.
“We don’t know,” said his father, Donnell Booker Sr. “It was someone very generous. That’s all we know.”
The tablet showed up one day last week after Booker’s mother, Tyshika Britten, posted a message on Craigslist saying her family of five boys and a baby girl were facing eviction from their home in Oxon Hill, Md. There probably wouldn’t be Christmas gifts, maybe not even a tree.
“I’m such a failure right now,” she wrote. “Please help me.”
Her message, thanks in part to a Washington Post article about her family’s troubles, went viral, generating hundreds of offers to help from around the world. Someone sent a PlayStation 4. Someone dropped off a puppy.
And someone named Eddie Vedder sent a check for $10,000.
“Is he in a band?” Britten asked.
Pearl Jam, Google told her. When the bank teller saw his name and the amount, his head dropped into his hands. The family has been watching his concerts online.
“I was just so moved by the story and what this mother did for her children,” Vedder said in an interview Sunday. “I thought those kids must be so proud of their mother for reaching out. That takes a lot of courage.”
Vedder said he saw some of his own childhood in their story.
Desperate parents plead for toys for children.
“There were years there were toys from Santa, but they were used and they came from garage sales and they didn’t always work,” he said. Vedder knows there are complex social issues beyond the range of his check, but he wanted to provide, as he put it, “a tourniquet” to help the family gain some control and normalcy.
A Christmas with presents helps, too.
Britten watched her kids tear the wrapping off video games, shirts, remote-control cars, winter coats, science sets, Legos, footballs, basketballs, and more — arriving at all hours in dozens of UPS truck deliveries, which was a new experience for the family. They have never ordered anything online.
The elves took the packages to the basement, where they divided them up and wrapped. And wrapped.
“Oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus,” 15-year-old Vashon said, unwrapping the PlayStation.
Chase, 3, gave a play-by-play of his presents.
Opening a car, he said, “A car.” Then he dropped it.
Opening a truck, he said, “A truck.” Then he dropped it.
Morgan, his 1-year-old sister, cradled a new baby doll. Asked the baby’s name, Morgan laughed.
The puppy, named Phoenix, looked tired. Nearby, hanging on the wall, was a sticker that read, “Bless the God Before Us And the Love Between Us.”
As they unwrapped the love, Britten suspected the hate was waiting for her on social media and in messages from a GoFundMe page she set up because people were requesting a way to send cash.
Online trolls have questioned her parenting ability and demanded she “close her legs.”
A friend on Facebook offered support.
“Don’t let the devil mess with your head,” she wrote.
Others criticized Britten for exposing and embarrassing her family. But the hairdresser and Booker, her longtime boyfriend and a struggling construction worker, don’t hide their financial problems.
Anyway, it would be impossible: They’ve moved multiple times and once ran a hose to a neighbor’s home for water.
“I’m not exposing my family,” she said in front of her children. “I’m exposing how a lot of people have to live. There are people all over this country who have the same problems we have. This is real life.”
Now the family is hoping this windfall — in addition to Vedder’s check, the GoFundMe page has raised nearly $18,000 — will give them, as Britten put it, “a head start” at securing a stable living situation. The landlord wants them out and is planning to visit them Tuesday, probably marking the end of their Christmas miracle.
They have dreams of buying their own home, of not living in the dark and cold in winter to conserve money for rent, of owning cars that don’t require the Lord’s Prayer to start.
They have regrets but don’t dwell on them.
“We are not perfect people,” Britten said. “We have made mistakes and that’s life, that’s what happens.”
And they think that in asking for help, and getting so much of it, they have given their children a present they can all share — a message that, no matter what, life is life and love is love.
“I am a proud mother of six,” she said. “I love my children. And I will take care of them, and I will get them what they need, any way I can.”
Torn wrapping paper was strewn everywhere. Outside, one of her sons squirted a toy fire extinguisher. The others were trying on new clothes, setting up their games, opening batteries for remote-control cars.
Britten took it all in.
“This year,” Britten said, “they got everything they wanted.”
A mother’s Craigslist plea brings her kids a Christmas they’ll never forget
Tyshika Britten tosses gifts to one of her sons waiting with open arms. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
By Michael S. Rosenwald and Theresa Vargas December 25 at 4:44 PM
Donnell Booker Jr. tore through the wrapping paper on Christmas morning, revealing a seven-inch Kindle Fire and a smile nearly as wide.
“This is my tablet,” the 8-year-old said. “My tablet. Who got me this?”
It wasn’t his mother or father, even though they were dressed as elves.
“We don’t know,” said his father, Donnell Booker Sr. “It was someone very generous. That’s all we know.”
The tablet showed up one day last week after Booker’s mother, Tyshika Britten, posted a message on Craigslist saying her family of five boys and a baby girl were facing eviction from their home in Oxon Hill, Md. There probably wouldn’t be Christmas gifts, maybe not even a tree.
“I’m such a failure right now,” she wrote. “Please help me.”
Her message, thanks in part to a Washington Post article about her family’s troubles, went viral, generating hundreds of offers to help from around the world. Someone sent a PlayStation 4. Someone dropped off a puppy.
And someone named Eddie Vedder sent a check for $10,000.
“Is he in a band?” Britten asked.
Pearl Jam, Google told her. When the bank teller saw his name and the amount, his head dropped into his hands. The family has been watching his concerts online.
“I was just so moved by the story and what this mother did for her children,” Vedder said in an interview Sunday. “I thought those kids must be so proud of their mother for reaching out. That takes a lot of courage.”
Vedder said he saw some of his own childhood in their story.
Desperate parents plead for toys for children.
“There were years there were toys from Santa, but they were used and they came from garage sales and they didn’t always work,” he said. Vedder knows there are complex social issues beyond the range of his check, but he wanted to provide, as he put it, “a tourniquet” to help the family gain some control and normalcy.
A Christmas with presents helps, too.
Britten watched her kids tear the wrapping off video games, shirts, remote-control cars, winter coats, science sets, Legos, footballs, basketballs, and more — arriving at all hours in dozens of UPS truck deliveries, which was a new experience for the family. They have never ordered anything online.
The elves took the packages to the basement, where they divided them up and wrapped. And wrapped.
“Oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus,” 15-year-old Vashon said, unwrapping the PlayStation.
Chase, 3, gave a play-by-play of his presents.
Opening a car, he said, “A car.” Then he dropped it.
Opening a truck, he said, “A truck.” Then he dropped it.
Morgan, his 1-year-old sister, cradled a new baby doll. Asked the baby’s name, Morgan laughed.
The puppy, named Phoenix, looked tired. Nearby, hanging on the wall, was a sticker that read, “Bless the God Before Us And the Love Between Us.”
As they unwrapped the love, Britten suspected the hate was waiting for her on social media and in messages from a GoFundMe page she set up because people were requesting a way to send cash.
Online trolls have questioned her parenting ability and demanded she “close her legs.”
A friend on Facebook offered support.
“Don’t let the devil mess with your head,” she wrote.
Others criticized Britten for exposing and embarrassing her family. But the hairdresser and Booker, her longtime boyfriend and a struggling construction worker, don’t hide their financial problems.
Anyway, it would be impossible: They’ve moved multiple times and once ran a hose to a neighbor’s home for water.
“I’m not exposing my family,” she said in front of her children. “I’m exposing how a lot of people have to live. There are people all over this country who have the same problems we have. This is real life.”
Now the family is hoping this windfall — in addition to Vedder’s check, the GoFundMe page has raised nearly $18,000 — will give them, as Britten put it, “a head start” at securing a stable living situation. The landlord wants them out and is planning to visit them Tuesday, probably marking the end of their Christmas miracle.
They have dreams of buying their own home, of not living in the dark and cold in winter to conserve money for rent, of owning cars that don’t require the Lord’s Prayer to start.
They have regrets but don’t dwell on them.
“We are not perfect people,” Britten said. “We have made mistakes and that’s life, that’s what happens.”
And they think that in asking for help, and getting so much of it, they have given their children a present they can all share — a message that, no matter what, life is life and love is love.
“I am a proud mother of six,” she said. “I love my children. And I will take care of them, and I will get them what they need, any way I can.”
Torn wrapping paper was strewn everywhere. Outside, one of her sons squirted a toy fire extinguisher. The others were trying on new clothes, setting up their games, opening batteries for remote-control cars.
Britten took it all in.
“This year,” Britten said, “they got everything they wanted.”
Post edited by demetrios on
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Comments
The members of Pearl Jam exemplify generous, good-hearted people.
My husband's recent hospital stay has given us a lovely bill of near $100K.
If the fellas are willing to help out.......not like we'd argue
(kidding - not expected, and we will find a way to get that shit paid)
As to toys for children, on a personal front, I'd rather they get whatever the hell makes them happy and feel safe.
Cheers, PJ.
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i'd hope the family would put most of the funds towards keeping their shelter and putting food on the table rather than presents and such. hopefully things work out for the long term
And this is what Christmas is all about.
Vancouver 12.04.2013 | Seattle 12.06.2013 | Memphis 10.14.2014 | Quebec City 05.05.2016 | Ottawa 05.08.2016 | Toronto 05.11.2016 | Boston 08.05.2016 | Boston 08.07.2016 | Amsterdam 06.12.2018 | Boston 09.02.2018 | Boston 09.04.2018
Thanks, Ed and the rest of the band, for continuing to set a good example for others.
What's extra cool, is the donation did not need to be delivered in front of cameras. It was the grateful woman who didn't know who he was trying to make sure others knew how impactful and gracious this man's donation is to her and her family.
To this story, I say "good on you world!" This is a win.
5/17/2006 - United Center (7th row center, caught Eddie's pick), 6/29/2006 - Summerfest with Tom Petty,
8/24/2009 - United Center, 7/19/2013 - Wrigley Field, 10/3/2014 - St Louis, 10/17/2014 - Moline (GA), 10/20/2014 - Milwaukee,
5/14/2015 - Pete Townshend/EV, 8/20/16 & 8/22/16 Wrigley Field Part 2&3, 8/18/18 & 8/20/18 Wrigley Parts 4 & 5, 9/18/2022 - St Louis
Actually, no. I'll say it. Don't be a dick, and don't judge.
So easy to tell others not to.
If I read you wrong - apologies. But your comment? Seems pretty clear and pretty cruel.
This, from one who has chosen to not have children, and also not tell others what to do with their bodies.
and it is a good time for a PSA, use protection, have a plan, etc. Good for Ed in doing this and good luck to her and the kids
May others learn, including her kids to be responsible and take care of themselves
Don't make this an asshole thread. Keep it a good one.