“9-year-old girl thinks of helping other kids” (from The Fayetteville Observer)

Fayetteville, NC

December 2009

With everything else on her to-do list, Michele Ellis wasn't sure how in the world she would get 67 Christmas stockings decorated and personalized in time for the seventh annual Falcon Children's Home party she was helping to plan.

Nine-year-old Nicole Cashwell came to the rescue.

...Nicole was about to turn 9 and, of course, she wanted a party. Funny thing is, she didn't want any gifts. In a display of kindness beyond her years, Nicole wanted to celebrate her birthday by doing something nice for someone else.

 

"Michele and I have been friends for a long time,'' said Alice Cashwell, Nicole's mother. "So I called her.'' Michele told her about the stockings.
 
Nicole, a third-grader at Eastover Central Elementary School, loved the idea of decorating the stockings at her party. So her mother ordered the 67 stockings, then purchased glitter, glue, rhinestones and holiday shapes cut from foam.
 
The party lasted nearly three hours. By the end, they had a sleigh full of sparkly stockings, with a child's name on each. "They were really cute,'' Alice Cashwell said.
 
Nicole had a traditional birthday cake - with orange frosting, her favorite color - but no traditional gifts. Instead, she asked her guests to bring cash donations for the children's home. "That has got to be the most unselfish act I have ever heard from a child in my life,'' Michele Ellis said.
 
Nicole even insisted on adding the birthday money her grandparents gave her to the donation. "Mom,'' she insisted, "I'm giving all my money to the children.''
 
..."It's just amazing, it started so small,'' Alice Cashwell said. "I think it has really showed her that you can be a kid and still make a big difference.''
 

 

Comments

  • painter manchester said on March 10, 2010 at 12:09am

    That has got to be the most unselfish act I have ever heard from a child in my life

  • manchester decorating said on January 23, 2011 at 4:33pm

    Amazing, kids get so much flack nowadays but girls like this show that tehre is good in all of us and great things can be acghieved with the right guidance

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Gifts Included

Talent

Nicole and her friends used their creative skills to decorate Christmas stockings for the Falcon Children's Home.

Time

Nicole offered the time spent at her birthday party to help meet a need of the children's home.

Treasure

Instead of the usual birthday gifts, Nicole asked her guests to bring a cash donation to give to the Falcon Children's Home...and she also donated the birthday money her grandparents had given her.

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