Non-profit 'Amber's Angels' running low on Christmas toy donations

Amberlyn Fett had a heart of gold...but her lungs weren't always so strong.  She was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was a baby.  FOX 7 last spoke with her in 2010.

"I have my days where I just want to cry and let it all out.  But I do that behind closed doors.  I talk to my mom about it, and you know, when I open that door, I pull up my boot straps and hit the road running," she told us from a hospital bed.

A year later, Amber passed away due to complications from a double lung transplant. 
               
But her legacy lives on: a legacy of giving.  Amber's mom Debbie Fett says when her daughter was just 6 years old in the hospital, she re-wrapped her own Christmas presents to give to another little girl who had none.

"And so Amber knocked on the door and she said 'I think Santa made a mistake because all of your presents were in my room.'  And so the little girl got all excited, and I mean we were all crying outside the door," Fett said.

In 2004, Amber started giving gifts to kids at the Children's Hospital of Austin...a tradition that became a non-profit called Amber's Angels -- something that Debbie has kept going.

"The year that she passed away, I didn't know she was going to pass away and I told her I was like 'you know let's just skip this year' and again she's like 'no.'  And again she was like 'Mom you've got to promise me that you'll keep doing this.'  And I'm like 'ok,' not knowing that she was going to be gone 2 days later," she said.

Now, Amber's Angels delivers gift bags to Dell Children's Medical Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

"Last year we did 245 gift bags and the year before that we did 145.  So it's like every year it gets larger," Fett said.

Fett's upstairs is filled with gift bags she's already put together.  They come with a warm blanket and an age-appropriate gift.  But there aren't as many bags as there has been in years past.

"I'm guessing I have about 75 bags.  But if we're doing 300 I mean, I'm way short," Fett said.  "I think it's just because things are tight for everybody and I keep thinking and keep praying that Amberlyn is going to make sure we have what we need.  I mean every year we've somehow by the skin of our teeth...have made what we need to do for Christmas but it's tight this year," she said.

Debbie Fett is hoping to continue Amber's Angels for as long as she can to keep the promise she made to her daughter.

"Trying to keep what she wanted going for years and years.  I told her that I'd do it as long as I'd have a breath in me.  So that's what I'm doing," Fett said.

Fett says monetary donations are actually best because there are a number of toys hospital rules don't allow -- and sometimes there are last-minute patients they have to go buy for to make sure everyone gets a gift bag.
               
If you'd like to donate, click here