At the age of eight, Abby Enck, often accompanied her 6-year old brother, Cameon, born with cerebral palsy, to Lutheran Children's Hospital, in Park Ridge, Illinois, USA. During her visits, she noticed that other pediatric patients liked to colour, but that many of the crayons were broken.
She came up with the idea of raising money to buy new crayons for them. Her parents told her that they would match up whatever amount she would be able to raise.
Abby decided to have a lemonade sale. Helped by a friend, she did some internet research and came up with the idea of selling water bottle lemonade kits. She even thought of a great slogan "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". In that first year, with her sales and her parents donation, she was able to buy 36 boxes of crayons that she donated.
The following year, she created 52 water-bottle lemonade kits that were sold on her behalf by friends and family. THanks to everybody's help, she was able to buy 1000 crayon boxes.
Finally, last summer, Abby turned to popcorn for her fund-raising initiative. Sales of her popcorn kits, consisting of stove top Jiffy Pop popcorn, raised over $900. It was used to buy new dvd's to help Lutheran General bring back “movie night” to its pediatric patients.
As adults, when we think of a project, we tend to imagine obstacles everywhere. We also often make it more complicated than it is. Children know how to be simple. Abby saw something that she thought was not right and found a way to fix it! That's all!
And, with such a simple and genuine gesture, a little 8-year old helped improve the life of many sick children. It was nothing fancy... just a little idea and the drive to make it happen!
No comments:
Post a Comment