Editor’s note: All United Way’s Sub for Santa participants’ names have been changed. To help a family like this one, visit https://subforsanta.org or text or call the Sub for Santa hotline at 801-356-6300.

It’s been a rough year and a half for Christina and Ramone, and for these two parents, it seems as if brighter days can’t come soon enough.

Christina is a stay-at-home mom, while Ramone works. The couple has two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl.

According to Christina, they are doing their best to stretch her husband’s earnings as far as possible. Unfortunately, that leaves buying Christmas presents this year in limbo.

“With what my husband earns, we can’t afford to buy them anything,” she said.

Due to a surgery that she says left her with little to no mobility, after having their youngest child, Christina hasn’t been able to work.

“I couldn’t walk just two months ago,” Christina said. “I have been regaining mobility but it is not completely (recovered).

That’s where the United Way of Utah County’s Sub for Santa program comes in.

For more than four decades, the organization has been helping families and single adults have a better Christmas.

With the cold Utah winter, the parents have asked for clothing essentials such as coats, pants, shoes and shirts for both of their children.

Christina says their son likes Spider-Man, toys, cars and books about dinosaurs and cars.

Their daughter likes soft baby dolls, the color pink and books with different shapes and colors.

Christina and Ramone are grateful for the organization and its willingness to help families like theirs this time of year.

Sub for Santa has become a yearly tradition with around 6,000 individuals being helped each year.