I had been struggling to find the person I wanted to bless with my angel gift this year when I got a notification of a next door post. One of my neighbors was asking for help finding dog and cat food for her 4 furbabies. The community outpouring was great and took care of her animals, but when I chatted with her a little more I found out what happened.

Celia is an older lady on a fixed income. She had been living in the same house (renting) in my neighborhood for 10 years, but a few months ago had been given 30 days to get out because her landlord wanted to sell the house. Right after that she was in a bad accident that injured her to a point where she struggles to even walk and the only place she could find to live was renting a room from a friend in Peralta. She had been asking for help for her furbabies as she did not want to surrender them but needed to be able to care for them properly. Due to the medical bills and repairs on her car she was also unable to make rent this month. I told her about Angels on the Streets and Payday and asked if she’d be in town so I could meet her to give her the gift. She asked if i could meet her at a gas station after a doctor’s appointment, as she had trouble standing to pump gas and she hoped I might be willing to help her.

When we met up she immediately reached out her car door to hug me. She opened the envelope and started crying….she said it had been a long time since she had seen one of those (the $100 bill) and that it was almost too pretty to use!. She asked if I would mind running in to see if the gas station would take a bill that large for her gas, but I just swiped my card and pumped it for her. She was shocked and tried to object, but I told her she was my person and I needed to help. She told me she’d pay me back but I refused, and said pay it forward when you are able. She hugged me again and said we had made her day, her month, and her whole year.