Death of young Chicago mom prompts longtime mentor to rally community to brighten kids’ Christmas

CHICAGO – She had seen the adorable young girl with the pigtail braids in the lobby of her Uptown Chicago apartment building a few times. The girl was always smiling and waving hi.

“One day I go into the lobby and there she is,” Angel Harold said. “She pointed at me and said, ‘You! Will you be my big sister?’ "

At first, Harold wasn’t sure she was the girl’s intended target.

“I turned around to see if she might be pointing at someone else,” Harold said of the girl, Crystal, who soon would become her little sister through a local church mentoring program. “I don’t know why she chose me, but she chose me.”

Harold, now of Libertyville, said the mentor-mentee relationship that began when she was 21 and Crystal was 7 was among the most fulfilling, long-lasting gifts life has bestowed.

In June, however, it also delivered one of life’s greatest heartbreaks. Angel learned that Crystal – at this point a mother of four children ranging in age from 5 to 18 – had died unexpectedly of a complication of diabetes.

Crystal Hughes was 36.

With the holidays looming, Harold, who spent many happy hours with her mother baking, hiking, roller skating, skiing and even going on a carriage ride through Libertyville after her move from the city, began thinking about how to make the season brighter for Hughes’ children. What started as a notion has grown into a movement, thanks in no small part to members of a private Libertyville-based moms group on Facebook.

It was at Hughes’ funeral that Harold first met Hughes’ children, though she felt as though she knew them. Harold had, after all, been swapping photos and stories with Hughes for the past decade. The two fell out of touch in the early 2000s while both women reared young babies, but they reconnected in 2010 via social media.

“It was like we just picked up where we left off,” Harold said. “Except we were both moms now, a little more grown up.”

Harold said she was immediately impressed with the children Hughes nurtured. Eighteen-year-old Kevin Young had just graduated high school when he witnessed his mother’s passing before paramedics arrived at their South Side home. He had planned to attend trade school, but instead went to work for Amazon to cover the bills and keep his sisters together in their Peoria Street home, Harold said.

“They are really good kids,” she said, noting that when she approached them to ask what they might like from an Amazon Christmas gift registry, none asked for much. One shyly suggested a bean bag chair, but withdrew the request after spying the price.

“They are so humble,” she said. “They only asked for like five items.”

Harold has been in touch with the children’s grandmother, who said the big need is grief counseling. Three of the four children saw their mother die. The counseling is a need for which they have no means to pay.

Harold knows only that she wants to help. From a simple appeal posted Nov. 28 on the Facebook moms’ group page, she’s received numerous pledges of grocery, gas, Amazon and other gift cards. One mom wondered about setting up a college fund. Another offered to pay for a news release to spread the word.

Harold’s part-time employer, a Libertyville shop called How Impressive, now is a drop-off point for gifts for Hughes’ children. How Impressive is at 326 N. Milwaukee Ave. Items can be dropped off through Dec. 19.

“Seventy-three people have already reached out to me,” Harold said in early December. “This is the most generous, kind group of women. I’m just blown away.”

Harold said shirt sizes for the children are large for Kevin and his 16-year-old sister, Kev’Anni; small for Ke’Amanti, who is 15; and children’s size 7-8 for 5-year-old Caidence.

“Their favorite colors are blue, purple, pink, green, black, white and orange,” Harold said. “They also like chicken alfredo, Italian beef, nachos, pizza and Jamaican jerk-seasoned foods or Chick-fil-A, Starbucks or Taco Bell gift cards.”

Harold said losing Hughes has made her reflect on how great a gift it was to know her.

“In the church bulletin at Crystal’s funeral, there was a passage that mentioned how her ‘big sister’ was an inspiration for her life – that she loved her Angel,” Harold said. “But the real truth is, I feel like she was an angel sent to me.”

Contact Angel Harold at angelharold2@gmail.com.