Martina McBride Gives Young Fan’s Letter Special Attention

If you send a letter to Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, chances are it'll hit a dead-letter file somewhere. But send a fan letter to Martina McBride, and you just may hear back from the superstar herself!

That was the case when Griswold, Conn. high school student Kate Roberts wrote Martina a fan letter a few weeks ago telling the country star how her music had helped Kate endure and get beyond some very difficult times in her personal life.

Kate's letter not only reached Martina, but three weeks later, in mid-March, Martina's representatives called her high school to see if they knew of her. When Kate was summoned to the guidance office and told the singer was trying to reach her, she was overwhelmed.

"I lost it," the 15-year-old student tells the Norwich Bulletin. "I was just bawling my eyes out."

Kate, who was recently adopted by her father and stepmother after a long court battle, experienced violence early in life. Her stepmother, Cara Roberts, is the aunt of Jenny McMechen, who was nine months pregnant when she was shot to death on New Year's Eve 2001. (The convicted killer is serving a 70-year sentence for the murder. Jenny's death sparked the state to pass "Jenny's Law," which makes an assault on a pregnant woman that results in the baby's death a felony).

Kate remembers Jenny as always smiling. "I had met her a couple of times, and I fell in love with her right away," she says.

Martina has recorded songs about abusive relationships, including 'Concrete Angel' and 'Independence Day,' which obviously also resonated with the teen.

In her letter to Martina, Kate wrote: "Know there are many people out there like me ... and that songs like 'Concrete Angel' and 'Independence Day' really help us and touch us ..."

Martina's staff gave Kate four tickets to the singer's March 13 concert at Mohegan Sun, and also invited her backstage to meet the singer, who called her to the stage during the concert.

"She gave me the biggest, most amazing hug I could imagine, kissed my head and said, 'Keep dreaming,'" says Kate. "You think of how many millions of letters they get. You think you're sending it to nothing. But there's always that thin chance. And dreams that I never thought I could even dream, came true."