A veteran CMS bus driver battles cancer but ensures her kids will find Christmas joy

For Charlotte resident Pamela Curry and her sons, 9-year-old Elisha and 5-year-old Elian, the holidays used to look very different.

On Christmas Eve, Curry and her mom would stay up late into the night, chatting and wrapping presents. They’d decorate the house, toast one another — Curry with coffee and her mom with ginger ale — and give a prayer of thanks that they could celebrate Christmas together.

Curry would keep wrapping while her mom prepared a feast for the next day. “That was the best food in the world,” she told The Charlotte Observer, reminiscing about the annual meal that included turkey, macaroni salad, collard greens and Curry’s favorite — homemade cornbread and turkey giblet dressing.

But about three years ago, everything changed.

In the span of a few months, Curry lost her oldest son’s father to a heart attack and her beloved mother fell gravely ill. Ten days after burying her mother, Curry was diagnosed with HER2 metastatic breast cancer. She was unable to return to her longtime job as a bus driver for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

And with money so tight, she also worried about her boys and the upcoming holidays. There have been a couple years, she said, where her kids woke up on Christmas Day and there was nothing under the tree. “And I told them we’ll celebrate Christmas later when I get some money,” she said.

That’s where The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte’s annual Angel Tree program comes in.

This year, Curry’s kids will join the thousands of Charlotte-area children who will receive gifts of clothes and toys under the Christmas tree again this year, thanks to contributors to the program. In cases where donors don’t step up, Charlotte Observer readers cover the expense by giving to the Empty Stocking Fund, which the Observer has sponsored since about 1920.

Among The Salvation Army’s most popular efforts, Angel Tree matches children in need with anonymous donors who buy them presents for Christmas. Senior citizens and people with disabilities also receive gifts. Last season, Observer readers donated $143,681 to the campaign.

The Angel Tree program is helping 1,627 families in Mecklenburg and Union counties this holiday season, representing 3,850 children, Salvation Army officials said.

Money raised by the Observer’s 2023 Empty Stocking Fund campaign allowed The Salvation Army to purchase more than 6,100 toys for this year’s program, along with the gift cards for seniors, foster children and adults with disabilities.

The Angel Tree program also is providing gift cards to 1,261 seniors and 277 people with disabilities, according to The Salvation Army.

Coping with change

Since her diagnosis, Curry has been in and out of the hospital, going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, several surgeries and some health complications.

A nurse now comes five days a week to help Curry. Still fighting to get her own short-term disability payments, she and her family are living off the death and disability payments of her older son’s father. After paying bills, Curry said she’s lucky to have $5 left over.

“Thank God I get food stamps,” Curry said, “...so we never go hungry. But every year I have a hard time with holidays or Christmas and at least having a few toys and having a few outfits or coats.”

Following her mom’s death and her own cancer diagnosis, Curry has been unable to return to her job with CMS, a position she held for about 18 years.

‘Blessed’ by the kindness of others

Curry said the family has been “blessed” a couple times by anonymous gifts, kindness that brought her to tears.

The family also participated in the Angel Tree program in 2021, and Curry was deeply moved by that experience.

She remembers how the woman at the Salvation Army asked if she had a coat. When she told her she didn’t, the worker offered her one, along with gloves, a warm hat and a Christmas stocking.

“And I just broke down crying because I told the lady, ‘Y’all supposed to do it for the kids.’ “ The woman told her she knew “sometimes the parents need a little smile on their face.”

“I was going through so much that I wasn’t expecting it,” Curry said.

In 2022 and 2023, Curry had trouble finding out how to sign up for the Angel Tree program. This year, a social worker got her reconnected.

“Angel Tree is helping out tremendously,” Curry said, “because this year I didn’t have any help.”

What the kids asked for

For Christmas her oldest son, Elisha (pronounced “Elijah”), is hoping for a remote control Tesla Cybertruck, solar system glow in the dark stickers, some Playstation games and an extra controller so his brother can play with him.

Eilan (“Ee-lin”) would love a remote control motorcycle and a remote control Dodge Charger.

Both boys also are in need of coats, new shoes and could use some new shirts and pants, too.

Celebrating Christmas this year

Curry said she’s been dealing with depression and unable to do many of the things that she used to do for Christmas. She especially misses the Christmas dinner her mom used to make.

But she is getting excited seeing her kids’ enthusiasm. She wants to make the holidays as special as possible for them.

With some money her nurse gave her, Curry was able to purchase a tree and some decorations from Family Dollar. She and the kids will make cookies for Santa and she’ll help them write a Christmas letter to him.

Curry also hopes they will spend some time together in front of the electric fireplace she bought for their former apartment that lacked heat downstairs.

“I’m going to turn the fireplace on and make it like we’re sitting in front of a real fire, and drink hot chocolate and eat marshmallows and watch a good family movie,” she said, “and just have a good time.”

How to donate to the Empty Stocking Fund

To donate online, visit Empty Stocking Fund CLT.org.

To donate by mail, send checks to: The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte, PO Box 31128, Charlotte NC 28231. Make checks payable to The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte and write “Empty Stocking Fund” in the memo line.

Questions concerning your donation? Call 704-334-4731