BRANDON, Fla. — When Amy Beamer grabbed a tag off an Angel Tree last week while her fiancé was playing hockey, she had no idea that one quick decision would snowball into something so powerful.
Beamer and her fiancé AJ had decided to pass on a typical Christmas gift exchange this year and instead focus on saving for their upcoming wedding. But as she sat and watched AJ’s hockey game last week at the TGH Iceplex, she saw an Angel Tree and decided to grab a tag.
The tags that adorned the tree were filled with names and wishes of foster kids who lived in a group home just a couple of miles away.
What You Need To Know
Amy Beamer grabbed on Angel Tree tag for a foster child and posted it social media
The post went viral, and hundreds of dollars in donations came in
Amy and the anonymous donors were able to provide special gifts for 17 children
She picked a tag for a teenage boy that had one wish on it. It was a T-shirt with Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr.’s name on it.
“I saw the tag and thought… oh my gosh, this kid just wants one T-shirt for Christmas,” she said. “I was just imagining this kid opening his one gift on Christmas.”
The simple ask hit close to home. Beamer spent six years in foster care and was formally adopted when she was in middle school. Some years, Amy remembered, she’d spend Christmas with a family and receive a gift. In other years, she had spent the day at a group home.
“I just remember the disappointment of not really having a Christmas that year,” Beamer recalled. “Just seeing the Angel Tree tags and realizing they were foster kids, and they were going to a group home, it made me feel like… oh, these are me.”
So in hopes of giving this boy a Christmas he would remember, Amy posted a photo of the tag to social media and tagged the Bucs, thinking maybe they would like to throw in a little something extra.
Amy had no idea just how quickly that post would take off.
Within hours, people from all over the Tampa Bay community and surrounding states started reaching out to her, with offers to donate to the boy who wanted the Bucs t-shirt. Her post hit nearly 1 million views.
As donations started piling in, Amy returned to the TGH Iceplex and grabbed 16 more angel tree tags. With the donated funds in hand, Amy and her fiancé started carefully filling each child’s Christmas request.
“Just imagining the kids having gifts and presents to open, and it’s not something you got every year growing up in foster care 20 years ago,” she said. “Now I’m like, I get to give back and be the person to come through for all these kids… the person I didn’t really have growing up.”
Amy says that the donors asked to remain anonymous. Many asked her to reach out again next year to make this a tradition.
“I have people that were like… hit me up next year because we’re going to make this a yearly thing. Don’t lose contact with me… we’re in this together now,” she said with a smile. “I’m just so grateful and so in debt to the community who came through for all of this.”
As for the boy who asked for the Bucs T-shirt, the Bucs, NFL Style, and Fango tickets all donated to make his Christmas one to remember forever.
Photojournalist Anthony Sande contributed to this report.