(Seguin) – One of Seguin’s cutest four-year-olds appears to be at the heart and center of this year’s winning letter of the KWED Christmas Angel contest.
In a shared letter to the KWED Christmas Angel, Tamatha Bermea, a teacher’s aide at Ball Early Childhood Center explained why she and the nominating teacher Tracy Tate felt that the family of Stokely McMirez was deserving of the Angel’s blessing of $500 cash. Stokely’s parents who include Mother Angie Ramirez and Father Keith Mclean, were both shocked and surprised to have learned that they were even nominated for the prize.
In years past, it was a local student who wrote a letter about their own families explaining why they were needing or deserving of the prize. This year, however, the contest was again expanded to also include adults in the community who also wanted an opportunity to nominate a deserving family or individual. As part of the contest rules, the person doing the nominating would also have to read the letter live on the air on Seguin Radio KWED. That part of the contest came to fruition Tuesday morning at Seguin Radio KWED. Steering the ship on behalf of the family was Mclean as Stokely is special needs and stayed behind at home with his mother.
Nonetheless both were pressed by the radio at home listening as their own Christmas magic unfolded.
That’s because this would also be the first time that Stokely and his family would get the chance to hear the words as spelled out by those who rally and support him year-round at the Ball campus.
Diving straight into the letter was Bermea who reads, “Dear Christmas Angel, I would like to nominate my student, Stokely Mcmirez (a unique combination of both his parents’ last names) for the Christmas Angel.
This is Stokely’s first year in school – so it is an adjustment for him and his family. At the beginning of the school year, Stokely and his family lost everything in a house fire. This has made life very difficult for Stokely’s family. They have had to start from scratch to rebuild their life from the bottom. During this time, family and friends have helped them get a place to rent and to rebuild their lives. Stokely is also special needs, and this has made all these changes much more difficult. The family is very kind and hardworking and trying to make a difference in their child’s life. Christmas Angel, pg. 4
Christmas Angel, continued.
Christmas is such a special time of year for a child and with the family trying to get back on their feet, we would like to help in any way we can. We would like to nominate Stokely and his family for KWED’s Christmas Angel to help give him a Christmas to remember.”
Mclean couldn’t help but take it all in as Bermea wrapped up those last few words of the letter. Mclean says he’s definitely grateful.
“I really appreciate being nominated and winning. We did lose everything, and it has been hard at the first day of school, “said Mclean.
As for the child that brought everyone together in that radio booth, Dad says he couldn’t ask for a better boy.
“He is very special. His name is unique. He is unique. He’s just so wonderful the things that he does. I love him very much,” said Mclean.
The same goes for Bermea who spends most of the day with Stokely. She says Stokely is a child who strives for progress and is always fun to be around.
“He’s come so far since he’s been with us. But he’s improved a lot. He comes to school now. He’s not crying. He seems to be happy. He gets through the school day. There are some things that may not mean anything to other people but to us and I’m sure to his parents, it’s a big thing such as carrying his backpack. When he first started, he didn’t want anything to do with his backpack. Now, I told his dad, we play a song when it’s time to go and he goes to get his backpack. He walks in line with us. He goes to our specials. Gym is not his favorite. We all know that now. But he will run. He loves the music classroom. He likes to dance with us. Computers, the same thing, he likes computers. There’s so many little things that we see with Stokely that he’s improved since he started,” said Bermea.
As the letter stated, the family is still left with picking up the pieces following the fire in August. But each day, Mclean says those days get easier and easier and are worth the effort especially when you have folks like those at Ball who are there ready to hand you some of those pieces.
“We are still finding things that we are missing. I found one of his books this morning at Walgreens – one that was in the fire and that I had gotten right before it. He loves his books. But one of my customers, she had a house that she wasn’t using and gave us a place to stay. I fixed it up a little bit so a little give and take there. We love it and plan to rebuild,” said Mclean.
The letter also described the family as “very kind and hardworking and trying to make a difference in their child’s life.” Bermea says they are definitely the best support system that Stokely could ever have.
“Stokely, I believe may have missed just one day of school. So, they know how important the schedule is, the routine – to keep the same routine and that helps him in a big way. Mom drops him off. Dad drops him off. Sometimes grandma drops him off and it’s improved so much because they stick to the routine. We have to go to school. So, he comes to school and that’s very important that they have him there,” said Bermea.
When Seguin Radio initially contacted Mclean about being named this year’s winner, he was at a loss for words but mustered just enough to say that “things like this never happen to me.” When asked if he remembered even being nominated, Mclean just chuckled, “I’ve been working a lot so I kind of don’t remember. But yes, very grateful though. He’s going to have a good Christmas now.”
Photos and the entire Christmas Angel letter can be found in Wednesday’s edition of the Seguin Daily News available at SeguinToday.com. The KWED Christmas Angel again thanks all those who submitted entries in this year’s contest and looks forward to spreading even more Christmas spirit in 2022.
Keith McLean and Tamatha Bermea
