Giffird's Hope
  • Home
  • In Search of Hope
  • The Spirit of Giving
  • The Unknown
  • Hard Work
  • Another Man's Treasure
  • Treasure Hunting
  • Coffee Mugs and Tea
  • Planning for Success
  • Stockyard Memories
  • Join the Military, Kid
  • The Billboard
  • The Marine Corps
  • You're In Hawaii
  • Angel Investor
  • Duty-Free Shopping
  • Hawaii's Tourism
  • Liberty House
  • Great America
  • Giffird's Dream
  • The Heritage Trail
  • The Message Light
  • Everything was Gone
  • The Park Bench
  • Guardian Security
  • J.C. Penney
  • Why Are You Homeless?
  • The Unicorn
  • Helping Those in Need
  • Hope Street
  • Apartment No. 1
  • Restoring Hope
  • Knock on the Door
  • Welcome Home
  • You're An Eagle
  • The Highway Patrol
  • The Letter
  • Home
  • In Search of Hope
  • The Spirit of Giving
  • The Unknown
  • Hard Work
  • Another Man's Treasure
  • Treasure Hunting
  • Coffee Mugs and Tea
  • Planning for Success
  • Stockyard Memories
  • Join the Military, Kid
  • The Billboard
  • The Marine Corps
  • You're In Hawaii
  • Angel Investor
  • Duty-Free Shopping
  • Hawaii's Tourism
  • Liberty House
  • Great America
  • Giffird's Dream
  • The Heritage Trail
  • The Message Light
  • Everything was Gone
  • The Park Bench
  • Guardian Security
  • J.C. Penney
  • Why Are You Homeless?
  • The Unicorn
  • Helping Those in Need
  • Hope Street
  • Apartment No. 1
  • Restoring Hope
  • Knock on the Door
  • Welcome Home
  • You're An Eagle
  • The Highway Patrol
  • The Letter
Giffird's Hope
​In Search of Hope
​

The story begins January 17, 1956, on a cold winter day in Fort Worth, Texas. A freezing rain pelted the city and soon turned into one of the worst snowstorms in the recorded history of Texas. Terrified and saddened, a mother sat in a small apartment atop an old brick building on Main Street in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The apartment was cold and dark inside, since the electricity had been turned off.

She was alone with her four-year-old twins—a little boy named Giffird and a little girl, Crystal—along with their one-year-old brother, Justin. She sat the children on pillows on the kitchen floor so they could use the open oven door as a tabletop for their rice and beans. The burners on the gas stove provided a small amount of heat and just enough light to barely see around the kitchen. The mom stuffed towels in the windowsills and under the doors, holding in as much heat as possible, to keep herself and her children warm. They were financially destitute because their father, a Korean War veteran, was suffering from psychological trauma and had wandered off in a severe state of depression and deserted them.
​

The three children and their mother, Maria, were sleeping quietly on the cold kitchen floor when a loud knock suddenly sounded on the apartment door, startling them awake. Excited, Giffird and Crystal immediately thought it was their father coming home. Maria told them to stay in the kitchen, as she wandered through the cold darkness to the front door.
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