Tony Tye, Post-Gazette
	Jennifer Morton with her sons, from left, Benjamin Morton, 8, Luke Morrison, 17 months, and Matthew Morton, 10.

In years past, Jennifer Morton collected cans and boxed dinners for Cub Scout food drives and dropped off more supplies at her church to help restock a community food pantry.

In the fall, she shopped with her mother to provide school supplies to needy children. In the winter, she and her sons chose paper angels from a Christmas tree at church, then bought gifts for the boys or girls whose names were printed between the angels' wings.

Her own money was tight then, but Morton said she believed it was imperative to teach her three sons to help families with needs greater than their own. Until this year, she never expected to seek aid herself from programs she'd once supported.

"We always used to help" with the holiday toy program and food pantry supported by her church, said Morton, 35, of Dormont. "I never thought that I'd need to use them. I didn't want to ask for help."

But this month, after months of trying to grow a struggling business amid a slew of health problems and bad breaks, Morton looked over her children's wish-lists for Santa, her own bills, a utility disconnect notice and a bank account that wouldn't cover it all.

Then she sat down with her oldest son, 10-year-old Matthew Morton, and revealed a hard truth that he probably wouldn't have figured out for another year or two: His mom is Santa Claus.

Matthew cried. She cries, too, when she talks about it, and about begging him not to tell his younger brothers.

"I would try to explain to him gently that I couldn't [manage] everything on his list, but he'd get mad and say "I'll ask Santa,' " Morton said. "Finally, I explained to him that I'm Santa, and that he'd have to bear with me this year."

That's where the Post-Gazette's Goodfellows Toy Fund comes in. Thanks to contributions from generous readers, the Goodfellows, working with the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program, ensures that every needy child receives a toy this holiday season.

Morton asked the Toys for Tots program to give Santa a hand this year for Matthew and his brothers, Benjamin Morton, 8, and Luke Morrison, 17 months.

She knew her parents, the Brookline Food Pantry and her church, St. Pius X in Brookline, would do what they could to help her sons to have a Christmas. But she knew they all were stretched thin, and she'd relied on her family so much already.

Morton said her finances have been strained for five years since she and her former husband separated, then began divorce proceedings. A few months later, Matthew was hit by a car and she couldn't work while she cared for him during his hospitalization and recovery.

With help from her parents, she opened a mortgage brokerage, first in her home and later in a modest Dormont storefront. Business was slow at first, she said, but gradually "I was taking care of things on my own." She started a new relationship, and just after Thanksgiving 2002, learned she was pregnant with Luke.

But by the time the baby was born last summer, her relationship with his father was ending. She developed an infection after the birth, then a debilitating bout of post-partum depression.

Morton's parents helped to run her business until she could return to work. Then in the spring, the waterline at her home sprung a serious leak. She said she couldn't obtain a home equity loan to cover nearly $20,000 needed to dig up and replace the line, replace crumbled front steps and make repairs to her bathroom.

"Every bit of savings went to that, and I still owe everybody," she said. "I borrowed from family and friends and I still owe some to contractors. That's what pretty much did it."

Since then, she's juggled payments for utilities, food, clothes, household costs and debts. Her income, earned through commissions on mortgages she closes, is unpredictable and must also cover office expenses.

"I struggled all summer," she said. "You pick which utility you're going to pay each month. I'm starting to do better but not soon enough [for Christmas]."

Morton held out for months before applying for food stamps, hating to ask for outside help. She also turned to the food pantry, but cringed when a worker there recognized her from volunteering together on another community project.

She wept again when she recalled how gifts from a fund at Dormont Elementary paid for groceries and glasses for Matthew and Benjamin and how classmates' families outfitted them with winter coats and clothes.

Morton has applied for a notary license so that she can pick up more work from other brokerage firms next year. She's determined to make her own business flourish, and to see her family step back into the role of givers to a community that remembered them this year.

"I know I will get past this," she said. "I will make it happen."

Contributions to the Goodfellows Toy Fund are tax-deductible. Every donation, large and small, is acknowledged in the newspaper.

You can donate using the coupon below, or make a contribution online at: www.post-gazette.com/pgcharities.