Kids Who Lost Mother In Shooting Get Some Christmas Love From Dallas Restaurant Owner
DALLAS (CBS11) - Christmas came a few days early Friday to six children left without a mother just before the holidays.
Friday afternoon, the owner of Williams Chicken gave her kids the Christmas of their dreams.
A party bus in your parking lot is surprise enough, but that was just the beginning.
For Monique Simmons' six children, ages 9 months to 11 years, the plan was the best day ever to ease the pain of their worst. Their mother was shot and killed while she clerked at a Dollar General to make money for Christmas.
So together with their father, aunt, and cousin, the party bus made a stop for lunch at Williams Chicken and then to Target, where an unlimited shopping spree greeted them.
"Whoa, man. this is just....I'm speechless," said father Aris Joseph.
"I got a princess Disney Ariel, and a baby, but I don't know what they call it," said Neveah Simmons, age 7.
It was joy that extended far past its recipients.
"Inside of me is jumping up and down," said Williams Chicken founder Hiawatha Williams. "This is Christmastime, so we're trying to distract the kids from what's going on in their lives, because the real world is going to pick back up in a few days for them."
And a mother's wish for Christmas come true in her absence.
"I know she's smiling right now.," said Joseph. "She'd have really appreciated this."
Williams Chicken funded the day thorough the Change for Change Community Christmas Give-a-Way, in which they take loose change donated by customers and add it to donations from partners. What the total didn't cover, Williams paid for himself.
