After losing her family all she wants are Christmas Cards

MOSES LAKE — Safyre Terry, an 8-year-old New York girl, had one Christmas wish so powerful it moved hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, including some in the Columbia Basin, to make it come true.

Safyre’s one Christmas wish was to fill her tree-shaped card holder with Christmas cards. A family friend posted her wish on Facebook and soon, the wish had spread far and wide and hundreds of thousands of people were making it come true.

Two years ago, an arsonist set fire to Safyre’s Schenectady, N.Y., home. Safyre lost three younger siblings in the blaze as well as her father, David Safyre, who used his body to shield her from the flames. She was found with severe burns covering most of her body and lost her right hand and left foot.

According to a People Magazine report, Safyre underwent more than 50 surgeries to graft skin over her burns. She now lives with her aunt, Liz Dolder, along with Dolder’s husband and five children.

According to an ABC News report, Safyre had received more than 300,000 Christmas cards and letters from people around the world as of Monday of last week. She received nearly 200,000 in the mail Monday alone, according to the same report. Suffice it to say, they were more than enough to fill her card holder.

The story gripped the attention of some in the Columbia Basin, as well. Children at the Boys and Girls Club in Moses Lake were told of Safyre’s tragic story and her Christmas wish, and almost 100 kids got involved.

Kim Sayers, of the Boys and Girls Club, said she read about Safyre’s story while she was at work one day and was moved by the 8-year-old’s sole Christmas wish.

“I thought it was really, really cool that the only thing she wanted was cards from people,” Sayers said.

Sayers brought the story to kids in the clubhouse, and the youngsters wasted no time doing their part. About 80 kids took to the club’s arts and crafts room to create Christmas cards and letters filled with drawings and wishes for holiday cheer, from one child to another.

“(It was) great to just have the kids spend the day and decorate things and write her nice little messages, and to explain to them (the importance of) just appreciating everything that they have and the fact that they have families to go home to,” Sayers said.

The task evidently was very important to the children of the Boys and Girls Club. Sayers said the clubhouse is normally “really, really loud.” It was silent in the art room because the kids were solely focused on doing something nice for a girl they had never met.

The roughly 80 Christmas cards sent from the Boys and Girls Club joined others from the Basin and around the nation in making Safyre’s dream come true.

But the giving didn’t stop there. Since her Christmas wish went viral, Safyre and her family have received more than $360,000 to help with medical expenses through youcaring.com, a crowdfunding site.

In addition, ABC news reported the charity Baking Memories 4 Kids is gifting Safyre, Dolder, her husband and kids with a trip to Walt Disney World in February.