Nothing makes me happier than sending Jeannie
to the coldest places in the country
to surprise amazing families while I
sit in my warm, cozy studio.
And last month, we sent Jeannie to Milford, Massachusetts
to surprise Fernanda, her sister Marjorie, and their mother
Ellie.
And we probably should have sent an EMT with her.
Is somebody knocking at your door?
Oh, my god!
Ah!
[APPLAUSE]
Someone fell down.
Can you believe that Ellen's right there--
[SCREAMING]
You mean the world to me, Ellen!
I love you!
Oh, my god.
And what's amazing is, even though your family doesn't have
much, you give what you can.
Tell everybody what you do?
Every morning, when I go to work,
I used to stop by Dunkin' Donuts and pay
for the coffee for the person behind me.
It makes me feel so good.
And you were the one who inspired me doing that.
Even the little I have, I feel so closer because you.
Because of you, I can do that.
So you saw the 12 Days of Giveaway shows this year?
Yes!
I'm just going to give you your family everything we gave away!
[SCREAMING]
And another one's down!
Hm-hm.
All right, the family is in our audience today.
Of course, I wanted to say hi to them.
Fernanda, Marjorie, Ellie, come on down.
[MUSIC - PHARELL WILLIAMS - "HAPPY"]
Because I'm happy.
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof.
Because I'm happy.
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.
Because I'm happy.
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you.
Because I'm happy.
Clap along if you feel like that's what you want to do.
Hello, ladies.
Pass this down, please.
Each of you have a microphone.
All right, who's who?
Fernanda.
I'm Ellie.
Ellie.
And Marjorie.
Marjorie, OK.
So I said I was going to fly you here so you could see the show.
And here you are.
I know.
Yeah.
We made it.
Yeah.
And I have an EMT just in case you fall down again.
I-- he's right there.
Hi!
Yeah.
You OK?
Yes.
All right, good.
All right, so you feel good about what happened?
Oh, my god!
Yes.
I feel amazing.
It's amazing.
And I still-- I can't believe this is happening.
It's so unreal.
What was the reaction from your community
when they saw the show?
Everyone's recognizing us.
My co-workers-- well, my co-workers are going insane.
But the breakfast place we go to,
everyone's treating us like we're celebrities.
I went to the emergency room a couple weeks ago
because I had the flu.
And my nurse practitioner recognized me.
So she's giving me fluids through an IV.
And she's like, oh, I saw you on the Ellen Show!
I'm like, yeah.
That was really funny.
But everyone's recognizing us, yes.
So she gave you extra fluids.
She gave me extra fluids, yeah, she did.
That's so great.
So you came from Brazil, how long ago?
I came from Brazil 20 years ago.
20 years ago.
Yes.
And, just by yourself, with your kids.
My kids, yes.
You knew nobody?
Nobody, no English at all, nothing.
Just my kids and I.
That must have been so hard.
It is.
It was.
It was really hard.
And you worked how many jobs?
Three jobs at one.
Three jobs at once.
What did you do?
I used to work cleaning houses, I
baked, cleaning Walmart at nighttime.
And the weekends--
She used to clean the floors
--works on construction.
Even in construction, I worked.
And nannying, too.
And what?
Nannying.
Wow, and you were a nanny.
Yes.
And now and that's, as we said before, you're just so amazing.
Because you're living paycheck to paycheck.
So here's the thing.
And then you're sponsoring kids.
Right?
Yes.
Tell me about the kids.
And where are they?
I currently sponsor-- so I sponsoring one child from Haiti
for about eight years now.
And after the show, I just felt so blessed
and so happy for everything you've done for us.
And I said, you know what?
I have to do more.
So I contacted the nonprofit program.
And I asked them for bios of more kids that
were in need for sponsors.
And a week after, I sponsored another child.
But when she sent me-- she sent me four bios.
And I said, there's no way I can afford all four kids.
And I said, mom, we have to do something.
So I sponsored one.
My mom's sponsor two.
And my sister is sponsoring one, as well.
So we took all our kids--
[APPLAUSE]
--that needed sponsors, yeah.
That's amazing.
I mean, it's incredible.
I mean, it's incredible that you're living paycheck
to paycheck, you pay for people's coffee behind you,
or whatever the people in line at grocery stores.
You're sponsoring kids in other countries.
This is the kind of thing I want to highlight.
Because if it weren't for me having you
here, no one would know you're doing this.
You're doing it out of the kindness of your heart.
And I want to reward things like that.
I have friends at Shutterfly.
You know that.
There's Ted, and Nancy, and Janet, and, of course, Stuart.
And so I talked to them.
And I told them that I was going to have you on today.
And they sent something for you.
And Stuart said, for sure, to tell how much he loves you
and how important you are.
So they wanted to give you $40,000.
[SCREAMING]
[APPLAUSE]
From my friends at Shutterfly.
We'll be right back.