Estella always hoped to return the kindness that St. Vincent de Paul had shown her family years ago.
Estella vividly remembers the first Christmas after her father died. She was only 9 and her sister, a few years older. Their mother did her best to provide for them, but times were tough. “It was bleak,” Estella recalls. “We had a wood-burning fireplace with a chimney, close to our bedroom. I was awake all night waiting for Santa to come, and of course, he didn’t. I didn’t say anything because I knew my mother was struggling.”
But the next Christmas Eve “Santa” did come – in the form of volunteers from St. Vincent de Paul, bringing gifts to her family’s door. “Oh my, were we surprised,” Estella says. “Here they came with all these lovely, lovely things – even a record player! I will never forget that. It meant so much to me.” So much, in fact, that as she grew older, “I always knew one day I would give whatever I could to St. Vincent de Paul,” she says.
Estella married a loving man who blessed her with many beautiful pieces of jewelry. When he passed away 18 years ago, she honored his memory and fulfilled her dream to help our ministry. “I gifted all my jewelry – except a Diamond Cross, the first piece my husband gave me – to St. Vincent de Paul,” she explains. “I wanted it to be used to help others.”
Recently, she felt the time had come to donate the diamond cross too. She was moved to tears when she learned it had been sold for a substantial amount of money, which will be used to help her neighbors at Christmas time – families who are struggling like hers did so long ago. “I was so happy,” she says, but she wants no thanks from St. Vincent de Paul or from those who will benefit from her generosity. “When you give from the heart, God is the One who thanks you,” she shares.
This post first appeared on St. Vincent De Paul Of Los Angeles, please read the originial post: here
