Roberto, Maria and their three children came to the U.S. three years ago. As parents, they have always worked hard to cover all their needs but now as students it’s even harder.

“We created a small company that provides us some incomes. We started selling homemade authentic Italian pizzas and appetizers and all of our children have their role on it. Of course it doesn’t cover everything but we are all surfing the waves of life and our family is holding it together in times of crisis,” Roberto said.

The children are now all teenagers and have lost their belief in good people.

“These three years in America have been full of challenges, opportunities, culture shock and, sadly, some discrimination,” Roberto said. “As Chilean-Italian our children would have for the first time a Christmas with gifts brought by Santa’s helpers.”

Roberto and Maria are hoping their children learn from this culture as well as their own.

“We want the children to know we should not feel ashamed to receive help from others, it is worthwhile to do acts of service, our current situation doesn’t determine our future and that no matter how old you are you can always dream of a magical Christmas.”

The oldest child is a female, age 17. She would like a hoodie, scarf and dress. Her pant size is 12 and shirt size is L. Her shoe size is 9 and her favorite color is black. She would like books by Stephen King and “Heaven” by Mieko Kawakami.

The middle child is female, age 15, and would like sweaters, sweatshirts and Doc Marten shoes. Her pant size is 8, shirt size M and shoe size 9. Her favorite color is blue. She would like the books “A Monster Calls” and “It’s Okay to not be Okay.” She would also like makeup and a bean bag chair.

The youngest child is a 13-year-old male. He would like a hoodie, sport pants and a T-shirt. His pant size is L and shirt size is XL. He wears a shoe size 8.5 and his favorite color is black. For books, he would like books from the “Outsiders” series and the “Eragon” series. He would like a rugby ball and Nintendo switch games.

All names of Sub for Santa participants have been changed. To help a family like this one, call the Sub for Santa hotline at (801) 356-6300 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays or visit https://subforsanta.org.

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