By Jamie Brayden-Simpson / special to Independent Newsmedia

In February 2003, my granddaughter was hit by a car and killed. She had just turned 8 years old on Dec. 24th, 2002. She was my Christmas Angel. The following Christmas I was shopping for gifts for my two other granddaughters and felt her loss so much more.

That’s when I noticed the “Christmas Angel Trees” at a Walmart store.

They were covered in red and white tags. The tags had the names and ages of children and what gift they wanted for Christmas. These children were from needy families, children that were in foster care and/or living in a CPS facility or had one or both parents in prison. I took some of the tags that had the requests of 9-year-old girls and bought them the gifts they asked for.  SO many tags were left over a few days before Christmas. I knew then I had to figure out a way to raise money so more kids could have a gift waiting for them on Christmas morning.

Luckily I’ve been blessed with a talented singing voice so I started singing online (in “Second Life,” a virtual world on the Internet) and I raised over $200 in one hour. The next year I raised over $400. Then, The Speakeasy, 10745 Grand Ave. No. 7 in Sun City, helped me bring it to the “real” world.

The first benefit at The Speakeasy raised over $800. Far past the $500 I was hoping for! Over the years the amount has continued to increase. Last year I raised $3,544! That meant that over 100 children had a gift to open.

The Salvation Army has an Angel Tree program but this is not the one that I donate to. The one I have been associated with for the last 12 years is one that is run by a very special lady named Linda Booker.

For 32 years, Ms. Booker has been a SILENT Christmas Angel. Her motivation for becoming the organizer of Angel Tree in Arizona was watching the hardships of her own kids. As a young single mom, her own kids went through Christmases without gifts. So, as soon as she overcame the financial obstacles of her situation, she knew in her heart that she needed to help others. For years Ms. Booker organized this program allowing the parents, teachers and other agency workers to “gift” the presents to the kids in their own name.  She rarely took credit.

For 11 years I’ve gone to Walmart and taken as many tags off of the trees as I could and I’ve shopped for each gift myself and left with shopping carts full of “Christmas Smiles.” What used to take a few hours now takes at least two nights from about 1 to 6 a.m. to do all the shopping. I can’t begin to tell you how it feels when I go to the Angel Tree warehouse with two SUVs filled with gifts, and Ms. Booker, with tears in her eyes, hugs me and thanks me. Those tears of thanks have turned my tears of sadness and loss into tears of joy by making something good out of the saddest day of my life.

Event: Saturday, Nov. 25 from 3-11 p.m.

Located at: The Speakeasy, 10745 Grand Avenue, Sun City, AZ. 

• Editor’s Note: Jamie Brayden-Simpson is the Entertainment and Promotions Coordinator at The Speakeasy.