| Steve Blow: Tradition puts warmth in holiday 12/24/2000 By / The Dallas Morning News It's funny how Christmas traditions get started.
For Brooke and David Beasley's family, it was feet.
About seven years ago – they were 10 and 11 at the time – the brother and sister were headed to their grandmother's house in northwest Dallas when they saw a very odd sight.
"We were passing under a freeway bridge, and I looked up near the top and saw some feet sticking out," Brooke said.
She punched David and pointed out the strange sight to him. He looked up among the bridge girders and saw the feet, too.
Looking closer, they could see people attached to those feet.
"We were kids, so our first thought was that it was funny," David said. "Like some giant hide-and-seek game."
But then it hit them that it was nighttime – and a very cold night at that. So David asked their mother why people would be hiding there on such a night.
"It's the homeless, honey," she replied.
Well, even after they got to their grandmother's house and began to enjoy the warmth and goodies there, Brooke and David couldn't stop thinking about the homeless people huddled under the bridge.
Back to the bridge
After a little pestering, the kids persuaded their parents to take them back to the bridge. And there they passed out a few old coats from their grandmother's closet and a sack of hamburgers from a nearby restaurant.
But Brooke and David weren't done. It was close to Christmas, and they had a new mission. "We came up with the name 'A Little Warmth Foundation,'" David said.
"We started pulling this red wagon through our neighborhood, asking people to donate old coats for the homeless."
They were amazed. "People brought out mounds of coats and sweaters!" Brooke said.
With their parents' help, they passed out the coats wherever they saw the homeless. Then, with the coats they had left, they went downtown to the Dallas Life Foundation.
And there they saw something that truly astounded them – children. "That was really shocking," David said. "We had seen homeless people before, but we had never seen homeless kids."
Because it was just days before Christmas, the sight was even harder to bear.
Well, the next year Brooke and David gathered up coats again for the Dallas Life Foundation. But this time they also took along brownies and coloring books and boxes of crayons as Christmas gifts.
That was about all they could afford. "Money was pretty tight for us then," said Brooke and David's mom, Julie Cuniglio. Their stepdad, Robert Cuniglio, had been laid off for a time, and their savings were sapped.
But the visit made the family feel grateful for all the things it did have.
Growing generosity
And year by year, a Christmas tradition grew. On the way to Christmas Eve Mass, the family would stop by Dallas Life and leave coats and gifts for the kids.
And year by year, the tradition grew. Other family members began to join in. Brooke and David's dad and his wife began to drive down from Oklahoma to participate.
Soon, others wanted to donate to the cause. A Girl Scout troop from Coppell began providing cookies. Some Boy Scouts began a sock-and-glove drive. And Robert's fellow employees at Verizon began donating toys.
This year, the celebration will be bigger than ever. Some of David's fellow seniors at Jesuit College Preparatory School pitched in to provide new backpacks and Harry Potter books for all the kids. Brooke, a singer and community college student, has planned musical entertainment.
David is 17 now. Brooke is 18. They will soon be heading in different directions for college. But they hope their Christmas Eve tradition never changes. "It's my absolute favorite night of the year," David said.
And to think it started with feet.
Steve Blow can be reached at 214-977-8374 or at sblow
|
