CMS math teacher praises angel tree program helping her daughter at Christmas

Vanessa Infanzon

Siddiqah Cooper won’t have to rush out on Christmas morning to head to her retail job this year. That’s because she started work as a middle school math teacher at Renaissance West STEAM Academy in August.

“This year will be the first time I was ever able to be off for Thanksgiving and Christmas without having to call out or worry about getting fired,” said Cooper, 40. She had worked at the Belk department store in SouthPark Mall from 2014 to last year.

Cooper and her two children, Tyliq Laws, 17, and Jazmin Cooper, 12, live in a two-bedroom condominium in East Charlotte.

Her focus this Christmas Day will be on drinking hot cocoa with her kids and cooking the family’s favorites. They also talk about what they’re grateful for and what Christmas is all about.

Cooper also applied for the Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte’s angel tree program for her daughter. Jazmin, a student at Alexander Graham Middle, likes beauty products and is asking for Brazilian braided hair, LED lights and face masks.

CMS teacher Siddiqah Cooper, with her daughter, Jazmin Cooper
CMS teacher Siddiqah Cooper, with her daughter, Jazmin Cooper

“It has truly been a beneficial program for us,” Cooper said. “It will be one less headache for me to have to worry about.”

This year, 8,092 children were registered to receive toys and clothes through the Salvation Army program, which matches children in need with anonymous donors who buy the gifts. Some 1,737 senior citizens also received gifts this Christmas. And 812 gift cards will be distributed to agencies serving foster children and children and adults with disabilities.

In cases where donors don’t step up, Charlotte Observer readers cover the expense by giving to the Empty Stocking Fund. Last year, Observer readers donated more than $156,000 to the Empty Stocking Fund, which the Observer has sponsored since about 1920.

A new start

In 2014, Cooper divorced and moved with her children from Sumter, S.C., to Charlotte. While she worked at Belk, she studied psychology at the University of Phoenix and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2016 and a Master of Science in July.

Cooper started substituting with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in February.

When the pandemic forced the schools to go virtual, she said she was furloughed and denied unemployment benefits. But she was offered a full-time teaching position for this current academic year.

Cooper hopes 2021 brings a new beginning for her family.

She wants to move into a larger home with enough bedrooms for everyone. Right now, she sleeps on the pull-out couch in the living room so each of her kids can have a bedroom.

An optimist’s view

Teaching during a pandemic has had its challenges, Cooper said.

Having her own seventh grader and high school senior has helped her understand what it’s like for other families. She knows what she wants from her own children’s teachers and sets the expectations high for herself.

Tyliq is a senior at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology and is looking at colleges for the fall. He’s interested in pursuing a career in family law.

Siddiquh Cooper, with her father, Abdul Siddiq Musa, and her son, Tyliq Laws
Siddiquh Cooper, with her father, Abdul Siddiq Musa, and her son, Tyliq Laws

Cooper sees the potential and growth in her students, even when others don’t.

“I love working in the ‘at-risk’ communities,” Cooper said. “When you are continuously ministering to the students and you have to minister to their parents too. When I speak to parents, I have to build them up as well.

“I’m an optimist,” she added. “We’re going to walk this road together to the end.”

One way is by helping each other.

And that’s where the angel tree program comes in. Cooper said she has been so impressed with the Salvation Army program that she put a link to it in the announcements she sends out to parents of students in her classes.

How to donate

To donate online: EmptyStockingFundCLT.org.

To donate by mail, send checks to: The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte, P.O. 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 704-716-2769.

We’ll publish all donors’ names.

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