Ten-year-old Gracie McNulty faced a tough Christmas this year -- it was the first one without her father. What she did to honor his memory, however, was nothing short of incredible.
On Christmas Day, McNulty asked her mother to keep the family's cafe, the Grilled and Filtered in Yokshire, open. It was her father's last wish to feed the homeless during the holiday season.
According to the Daily Mail, McNulty served full turkey dinners to 50 homeless people on Tuesday with the help of her mother and three siblings.
Her father Craig, 38, was a familiar face at local charities. He often volunteered to serve breakfast to the homeless on Boxing Day. This year he had promised to open the family’s cafe on Christmas Day.
He died in August when he suffered serious head injuries during a work fall, reported the Mirror.
That's where Gracie stepped in.
"I was at school feeling sad about my dad so I decided I wanted to do something to make him proud and this felt like the perfect thing," McNulty told the news source.
"I can’t imagine anything worse than sitting down on Christmas Day without him, so we’d rather think that we were making somebody else happy,” she added to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
McNulty's mother, Sharon, told the Daily Mail, "After he died, Gracie said to me 'I don’t want to have Christmas at home this year, I want to do what daddy wanted and open the cafe on Christmas Day.'"
"It wouldn’t feel right to celebrate so we’re serving Christmas dinner to people who don’t have a home to go to," she added. "We’re all thinking of Craig. It’s all in his honor and he would be so happy with what we are doing."
The family printed tickets for the Christmas feast and passed them out at local shelters that serve the homeless, reported the Yorkshire Evening Post. The money to fund the event was donated by the local community.
The McNulty family worked hard to serve turkey dinners for three hours between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm.
"It’s been absolutely fantastic, just to see their faces when they walked in. We’ve bought everybody thermal gloves, thermal scarves, and thermal socks and have also made sandwiches for them to take away," Sharon told the Daily Mail.
"It’s been the best Christmas ever. People have been coming in calling me 'super Grace.' I haven’t asked my mum yet but I want to do this every year," Gracie added to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
The family is also raising money for Craig McNulty's chosen charity, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
That is great...very strong people helping others to help with their obvious pain...really amazing...
ReplyDeleteAmazing considering the pain and suffering that she was going through and all she could do was to think of others and what they would be doing on Christmas Day...she obviously had a very special bond with her dad and with what he instilled and inspired within her at such a young age.
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