Local Mom Hopes Justin Timberlake Sees Her Son’s Story

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cutting dessert. Washing dishes. Normal life, after a life event that was anything but normal. Rebecca and Michael Holt’s five-year-old son Charlie died suddenly in 2017. Rebecca says, “He loved unconditionally,” and, “He just had a grin from ear to ear all the time.”

Now, the south Charlotte family is keeping Charlie’s loving heart and sunny personality alive in different ways. A line from Charlie’s favorite song, “I’ve got sunshine in my pocket,” from Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” inspired wooden tokens that were handed out at the preschool graduation Charlie should have been at. The smiling suns have turned into the Holt family symbol. Rebecca says, “So we all have a little piece of sunshine in our pockets, just like from the song.”

Charlie’s sunshine is all over the house: the playroom.
The toy box.
His siblings’ rooms. And on his mom’s wrist. Rebecca explains, “It’s my first and probably only tattoo, but he’ll always be there.”

The sunshine symbol is also on the donate button on CharliesHeartFoundation.org. The foundation works to keep kids in Ethiopia from becoming poverty orphans. Rebecca says, “They’re not necessarily orphaned by death, but because their families simply cannot afford to feed them.”

And that is where Justin Timberlake comes in.

He’s in town right now, for a concert Tuesday in Uptown. Rebecca will be at the show, and she is hoping the singing superstar sees Charlie’s story, and the work being done in his name, and shares it.

Afterall, Rebecca says, “He is a father, he’s a father of a little boy.” And, he is the voice of the song that motivates this family to spread Charlie’s heart and his sunshine. Rebecca says, “We feel like this is something we can do in his honor, in his memory, to keep him going, to keep his heart alive.”

Rebecca had a direct message for Justin; you can find that on WCCB News anchor Morgan Fogarty’s Twitter feed. Also: the second annual Charlie’s Carnival is March 30th in Matthews. Fogarty also tweeted out more details about that.