Belief is a powerful thing. For educators and support professionals, believing in the promise in a young person who does not yet see it in themselves is the essence of great teaching. 

For Michelle Beale, a member of Sweetwater Counseling and Guidance Association, her belief in 50 students living in a group home who attend Alta Vista Academy, where she provides service, led her to a local charity on their behalf. She wrote a letter to local radio program Jesse and Tati for the students to be considered for a 25-year San Diego tradition called “Breaking and Entering Christmas.” The tradition was named for the first year when its organizer “Little” Tommy Sablan “broke” into a house and delivered gifts to an entire family.  

The effort was, in her humble explanation, “a way to hopefully get them something better than my Christmas cookies.”  

Her students were chosen over scores of other nominees as this year’s recipients.

‘Give them hope. Give them a smile on their faces and a belief that someone does care.’ 

Here is the letter she wrote:  

Dear Star-91, Jesse and Tati and Little Tommy, 

I’m writing to tell you about a group of kids who live together in a residency here in San Diego. They’re the kids that have been forgotten. Their ages are 12 to 17, and they are placed here NOT because of anything they have done. It’s because their family life wasn’t the best. They’ve been traumatized and let down their entire lives. They are older kids who never get a chance at being with a family. They get passed over. They don’t really have any hope. They feel nobody loves them or cares about them.  

We’re hoping you all can change that. We’re hoping you can choose this group of about 50 kids and give them hope. Give them a smile on their faces and a belief that someone does care.  

I believe in them all. They aren’t expecting a thing for Christmas. These children just have the clothes on their back. Please choose these children – even if it’s a pancake breakfast, or Christmas cookies. 

Beale could never have imagined the wheels of loving kindness her words would set in motion and what a profound impact they would have on the lives of everyone who participated in the event.  

On Dec. 8 all the students were treated to an early morning holiday breakfast at a local restaurant. Meanwhile, volunteers who were waiting at a local car dealership brought presents to the group residence from throughout the county. Due to some earlier subtle outreach and conversation, each of the 50 students was given gifts they both needed and wanted. Among them were 30 beach cruiser-style bicycles, along with hundreds of age-appropriate, wrapped gifts.

After inspecting the students’ common area, a local electronics store determined the space’s old projector-style TV was inadequate. The new media room will have multiple large screens donated by the company.  

The San Diego community came together to give holiday gifts to the 50 children living in the group residence.

Beale was on hand with the radio personalities, Sablan, community members and volunteers as the students returned from breakfast to a stunning display of the holiday season in their home – gifts for them from the community of San Diego. She was joyously emotional as she talked about what the effort means: “You’ve given them all the gift of hope.”   

And yet, of all the bounty these young people deservingly received this holiday season, their most valuable gift is Michelle Beale’s belief in them. All of them.  

See the morning’s preparation efforts at coverage by TV station KUSI News here; the interview with Beale begins at about 20 minutes into the video.

Photo at top: Beale speaks about the 50 children who live at the group home: “I tell them I believe in them every day.”