19 Ministries And Six Local Businesses To Bring Christmas To Dallas Families This Week
By: A.A. Cristi Dec. 17, 2018
Sonya Leonard feeds and clothes the homeless and mentors children in need, going above and beyond to serve economically disadvantaged residents in the DFW area. This week, a collection of local non-profits and businesses will deliver a Christmas to remember to Sonya and her family as a thank you for her inspirational and tireless efforts to help those in need.
Leonard, a single mother of four teenagers, one of which is disabled and one is adopted, is the sole provider for her family. She is also a two-time breast cancer survivor and has been in remission for two years. Leonard owns her own nail salon, Simply Unique Nails by Sonya, and is founder of Sonya's Helping Hands, a non-profit food pantry and thrift store. She also mentors troubled teens.
Leonard's story starts as a rebellious teen where she ran away from home at the age of 14. She lived a rough life on the streets until she was 16 years old. Later in life having teens of her own, she saw that they were becoming selfish and wanted to teach them to be grateful for what they have been given. Leonard began taking her teens to feed the homeless seven years ago in hopes that they would see how lucky they were and learn to do for others. Her family also began giving their Christmas to others to bless them on the holidays and she feels it blesses them in return.
This passion to take care of others drove Leonard to open her own 501(c)3, Sonya's Helping Hands and Thrift Store, to benefit the homeless of Dallas. The mission is to give back one person at a time.
"Sonya's selfless love and giving nature is an inspiration to everyone. She always puts others before herself and we wanted to give her a special gift this holiday season.", says Landon and Kristin Huie, Directors of 19 Ministries.
19 Ministries, a non-profit organization, got to know Leonard this holiday season at a Thanksgiving outreach they do every year called "Hope In A Box" where the weekend prior to Thanksgiving they provide 150 meals to impoverished families in Rowlett and other metroplex cities. They met Leonard when they delivered a Thanksgiving meal to her family in November and she requested they deliver her meal by a certain time so she could go out and feed the homeless for Thanksgiving.
19 Ministries also has a program called "Laundry Love" where they visit local laundromats and surprise and delight by paying for people's laundry. Recently they were visiting a Rowlett laundromat where they offered to pay for a woman's laundry. Turns out this woman was Leonard. They asked her if there was anything in particular, they could pray with her about and she began to share her story.
Leonard was at the laundromat washing clothes she would donate to homeless people to help them get their life back. The clothes were mostly business attire to help the homeless look professional when they go on job interviews.
In the conversation Leonard mentioned that she runs a non-profit with a food pantry and asked 19 Ministries if they had a food pantry. When the ministry said they do not but they do provide Thanksgiving meals to the needy, Leonard then replied, "Wait, I received one of those meals. Could I have been one of the families on your list?" When she mentioned her name, 19 Ministries knew immediately that she was the mother that had to leave early to feed the homeless. A Rowlett High School teacher had been the one who told 19 Ministries about Sonya and her family. Until that moment, Sonya had not known how the Thanksgiving meal turned up on her doorstep.
19 Ministries also learned that every year the Leonard family give away their family Christmas to bless another family. The Ministry was so moved with her story of giving so much to others when she has so little herself that they wanted to bless her family this Christmas with toys for her children. They shared her story on their Facebook page where they received an overwhelming response from local businesses and non-profits wanting to help bless the Leonard family this Christmas.
This mission has grown from blessing the Leonard family children with presents to providing furniture and décor, inspecting electrical needs and making any necessary repairs, donating food to fill their refrigerator and pantry, buying a Christmas tree, Christmas presents for Leonard, decorating their home for Christmas and sending her family on a two-night getaway to a hotel with food and entertainment, all expenses paid.
"It is always refreshing to see the spirit of Christmas alive and well year-round. Leonard is an angel to so many and we are grateful to be able to bless her and her family this year", Huie says.
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