Angelita Bracero had a busy recent Sunday, entertaining 15 families in her downtown Franklin Park store, Angel’s Closet.
Usually wall to wall with odds and ends the resale shop at 9706 Franklin Avenue that day was filled with music, the smell of hot pizzas, laughter and parents, grandparents and kids. So many kids. They played games, got their faces painted, decorated gingerbread houses and, of course, ate pizza to celebrate the store’s one-year anniversary.
Even more importantly, they were also there to carry on a tradition of kindness started long ago, when Bracero was younger and, as she tells it, needed the support. She had the same struggle about this time every year.
“I was a single mom, 25-years-old, with five kids,” Bracero said. “Christmas was very tough for me.”
Her community in River Grove helped her through those times and she didn’t forget the support. So, 11 years ago, she started hosting Christmas parties for single mothers — organizing a fun, free day during the holiday season. Over the years, she has watched it grow. This year, with her store just turning one and with a large space at her fingertips, she expanded her invitation to any family that got nominated — and families could nominate themselves — through social media.
“Since I’ve been here (in Franklin Park) I wanted to open it up to the whole community,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the whole community.”
She said the community has been supportive of her shop, donating items and by being repeat customers and, more generally, making her feel like part of the neighborhood.
“We’ve been so blessed, we’ve been welcomed to Franklin Park with open arms,” said Jessica Desarden, Bracero’s daughter and a volunteer. Desarden recalled growing up, the daughter of a single mother, and she remembered the lean years around Christmas and what community events meant for her and her family.
“It gave us an opportunity to do something,” she said. “When funds were tight, we weren’t able to make gingerbread houses.”
On Sunday families did that — and more. The turnout was 15 families with 45 kids and enough food, gift baskets, gingerbread houses and fun for everyone.
“I think it’s great, I love what she’s doing,” said Elizabeth Cruz, one of the grandmothers who attended the event. “I liked building gingerbread houses with my grandkids.”
For Bracero, the turnout was its own reward. The opportunity and the fortune to help others was its own thanks for the times when someone was there for her.
“This is my way of giving back to all the people who helped me when I needed it,” she said.
And next year, at the second anniversary of Angel’s Closet, she’d like to do it again, but bigger.
“Next year I’d like to have double parties, maybe over two days or one in the morning and one in the afternoon,” she said.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
