Plainfield Second Graders Spread Christmas Cheer to New York Girl Who Lost Family in Fire

Submitted by Plainfield School District 202

Photo: Evan Flores, 7, holds a gift he and his Central Elementary School second grade classmates will send to Sa’fyre Terry, the 8-year-old girl in New York who lost her family and suffered massive burns in a 2013 house fire. Flores saw the story on Facebook and asked his classmates to help brighten Terry’s holiday by sending her handmade cards, drawings and gifts from the elementary school’s bazaar.

PLAINFIELD, IL — Central Elementary School second grader Evan Flores enlisted his classmates to help brighten the holiday for a little girl who lost her family in a fire in New York.

Sa’fyre Terry, an 8-year-old from Schenectady, New York, lost her father and three younger siblings and suffered burns over 75 percent of her body in a 2013 house fire.

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However, Terry’s story went viral earlier this month only after her aunt posted a note on Facebook asking people to send the little girl Christmas cards to make her holiday a little brighter.

Flores, 7, said he cried when his mom showed him Terry’s story on Facebook.

“I was super sad about it,” he said.

Flores’ went to his second-grader teacher Amy Bonomo with Terry’s story and told her he wanted to do something to cheer up Terry.

Flores asked his class to help write cards and draw pictures for Terry because Christmas is about giving, Bonomo said.

“I thought that was awesome,” Bonomo said. “He is a really great kid.”

Flores and his 23 classmates also picked out gifts for Terry at the school’s bazaar and plan to send the package to Terry this week.

So far Terry has received hundreds of thousands of cards from across the globe.