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For 20 local families, Mooney sisters help save Christmas
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
Two Cardinal Mooney sisters who heard a story about a child growing up without a Christmas tree wanted to do their part to make sure others wouldn’t suffer the same fate – and the results surprised even them.
Nicolina and Angelina Aiad-Toss partnered with the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center, and now 20 families who otherwise would not have had Christmas trees will be able to celebrate Christmas around one.
After meeting a couple who thanked them for a tree, Nicolina, 15, struggled to come up with words to describe the feeling.
“It’s amazing how a tree can make someone’s life change,” Angelina, 17, said.
For Angela Harris and Auma Campbell, life-changing isn’t an overstatement.
“It was like I just won the lottery,” Harris said about hearing she would receive a tree. “It was like Christmas morning.”
The couple is on the JJC’s family dependency court docket and working to regain custody of their children.
The tree serves as a symbol of her family coming together, Harris said.
“I can look at it as hope,” she said. “It reminds me [the court is] behind me, too. ... It’s one thing to be holding on. It’s another to have someone holding on back to you.”
She took it as a sign that the tree arrived with maroon and gold ornaments that matched her dining room.
It’s a new beginning, Campbell said, who added that he hasn’t had a tree in several years and occasionally went without one as a kid.
When the sisters’ mother reached out to Judge Theresa Dellick of Mahoning County Juvenile Court, Judge Dellick said she could help because the people who come to her court are in need.
“We know there’s a need,” she said. “Holidays are important for families because they build traditions. Traditions build and seal families.”
Still she gave credit to Angelina and Nicolina for approaching her with the idea and those who responded to calls to donate trees and decorations. The sisters expected to get 10 trees; they received 22.
All 10 departments within the juvenile justice court identified two families who didn’t have a Christmas tree. The trees went to families across the county, Judge Dellick said.
The remaining trees and decorations will go toward the program next year. Both Dellick and the Aiad-Toss family want to make what they’ve dubbed Project Christmas Tree a tradition.
“I’m happy the program really took off,” Angelina said.
“I’m glad we get to continue it,” Nicolina added.
Harris and Campbell will not need a new tree next year. They may not even take the current tree down.
“That Christmas tree isn’t coming down until July,” Harris said.
But Campbell insisted it will stay up longer than that.