11-year-old's idea grows into backpack drive 'Kids Helping Others'
PHOTO BY SAM WOLFE-DONOTUSE, SAM WOLFE CORRESPONDENT // BUY THIS PHOTO
Alex Lawson, 11, a fifth-grade student at Saint Edward’s Lower School, loads up with backpacks filled with supplies for Haiti Tuesday morning at the school. Alex’s father, Rush Lawson, carried about 100 of the packs to Missionary Flights International on Tuesday morning and will be taking more supplies to the facility in the coming days.
VERO BEACH — Alex Lawson watched the TV news reports of the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti and heard the pleas for financial assistance.
“It made me wonder,” the 11-year-old fifth-grader at St. Edward’s Lower School said. “Are the kids there getting any help? Because I had read that 50 percent of the population is kids. And I thought that kids here ought to be the ones helping the kids there.”
So Alex, son of Rush and Tammy Lawson of Fort Pierce, started a drive to have kids donate their old school backpacks to kids in Haiti.
“I thought backpacks would be perfect,” Alex said. “They can hold a lot of stuff, and they’re like suitcases for the kids who don’t have homes. Most kids here have old backpacks.”
Thanks to Alex, more than 400 kids in Haiti will get backpacks; that’s how many have been collected as of Tuesday morning as Alex and his father loaded most of the 121 backpacks donated by students at St. Edward’s into the family SUV.
“He came up with the idea,” Lawson said of his son. “He did everything to set this in motion. His mother (Tammy Lawson) and I helped out, of course, but we let him know it was up to him to make it happen. We wanted to show our son that, although he’s just 11, he can make a difference.”
Alex started the backpack drive at his school and the synagogue his family attends, Temple Beth Shalom in Vero Beach. From there, the drive expanded widely and quickly.
“It all happened in the span of about 48 hours,” Alex said. “Everything has been kind of unfolding.”
A Christian radio station has been playing promos for the drive, which Alex said got several churches in Vero Beach and Fort Pierce involved. Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Okeechobee also is collecting backpacks.
Alex suggested the backpacks be filled with items such as school uniforms of a “set of nice clothes with a belt, a pair of sneakers or shoes you have outgrown,” toiletries, school supplies and “a drawing or personal item such as a book that you would like to give.”
The backpacks are being taken to Missionary Flights International, a ministry based at the St. Lucie International Airport in Fort Pierce that has been flying relief supplies and aid workers to Haiti.
Normally, Missionary Flights hasn’t been accepting donations of clothing, Lawson said, “because they don’t have the time and manpower to go through and sort it all. But these backpacks are labeled as being for a boy or a girl and for what age, so they can be handed directly to the kids who need them.”
Alex said the effort has had a hitch or two.
“We did run into some copyright issues,” said Alex, who obviously doesn’t talk like a typical 11-year-old. “At first I called (the drive) Kids 4 Kids, but that was already taken. So I changed it to Kids Helping Others.”
Busy kids take time to help others
By
Kids today are busy. School, homework and activities might make it hard to find time for helping others. But KidsPost met three groups of kids who are reaching out to those who are poor, sick or lonely. As you think about your goals for 2014, maybe these kids will inspire you to find more time for others.
Performing for smiles
“I really like to make people happy and see them smile,” said Alyssa Feinbaum, a fifth-grader at Greenwood Elementary School in Brookeville. For almost two years, she has performed with 15 other kids in a group called the Teen Angel Project Jr., or TAPjr. They sing and dance for sick kids, wounded veterans and nursing home residents. The audition process includes writing an essay about why you want to be in the group. (There’s also a TAP for high school students.)
“They have to have the heart for it,” said Francesca Winch, who founded the group a couple of years ago and whose daughter is a member. “They have to want to bring joy to people.”
Recently, residents at a retirement community in McLean smiled, tapped their feet and nodded their heads to holiday songs as TAP performed.
Hannah Marill, a sixth-grader at Herbert Hoover Middle School in Rockville, has been in the group since it began.
“It helps my community by giving people smiles on their faces when it’s not really a happy time,” she said.
Hannah recalled performing at the National Institutes of Health’s Children’s Inn, where sick kids stay while they’re being treated. A little girl from the inn got up and started dancing with them.
TAP “taught me to not always look at the outside, but the inside,” Hannah said. “It doesn’t matter how old you are or what you look like: Everyone can enjoy music.”
Proud to help
Jennifer Taylor, 10, and her sister Kimberly, 9, both students at Beacon Heights Elementary School in Riverdale Park, are working to help people far away. Their mom is from the Philippines, and they have visited relatives there. When a typhoon — that’s another word for a hurricane — badly damaged the Southeast Asian country in November, the girls knew they had to act.
“I just wanted to do this because I felt I had to do something,” Kimberly said. “I know [the Philippines] is one of the happiest places you could ever imagine, and I felt how affected they were and I felt that I had to help.”
For weeks, the sisters spent about two hours a day making colorful rubber-band bracelets and sold them at school during lunch. So far, they have sold about 600 bracelets for $1 each to benefit Project Hope, an organization that is helping the Philippines. Their classmates, they said, were very supportive and often helped.
“I feel very proud and I feel very great affecting people’s lives and making it better,” Jennifer said. “I feel proud of not only myself but of my sister and my friends for helping. It helped me realize how fortunate we are in America. . . . We’re really fortunate, but you can only realize it when some tragedy like this occurs.”
Collecting shoes
For Jeremiah Mussmon, a sixth-grader at Blue Ridge Middle School in Purcellville, shoes taught him something about the world.
“I didn’t even realize that people didn’t have shoes,” he said. “I thought everyone has a pair of shoes, but then I got to realize that some people are less fortunate, and I just wanted to help.”
Last year Jeremiah’s dad, Chad Mussmon, started collecting shoes at his business, the Little Gym, for a group called Soles4Souls, which helps needy kids around the world get shoes. Jeremiah was the president of the student council at Emerick Elementary School and decided to get the school involved.
“Everyone thought it was a great idea, so we put a couple signs up,” he said. Students donated 2,000 pairs of shoes, enough to line the halls of the entire school. “I just thought that it was amazing that my classmates could help out, too, and it was going to make a lot of kids happy, and it just made me happy,” he said.
Last month, Jeremiah and his family traveled to Haiti with Soles4Souls to deliver the shoes to kids. Each day, they drove to distribution sites to measure kids, wash their feet and then give them shoes.
“At the first distribution site, it was early in the morning. It was a small space. . . . The one thing that was kind of sad was all the kids had cuts on their feet,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah’s brother, Graham, 9, was nervous at first about visiting the Caribbean nation. Now he wants to go back and help build houses.
“They were really nice, and even though they didn’t have a lot, they were happy,” Graham said. “It was really fun to help the kids out, and I was glad that I could help them.”
Graham is hoping to get his school to donate backpacks to Haitian kids. When he grows up, he would like to work for Soles4Souls and “go around the world and help people,” he said.
LEARN MORE
These Web sites provide more details about the service organizations in this story. Always ask a parent before going online.
Teen Angel Project: www.teenangelproject.org
Project Hope: www.projecthope.org
Soles4Souls: www.soles4souls.org
—Moira E. McLaughlin
A 14-year-old left this message in the snow on the roof of a
carpark opposite the hospital where his mother was
undergoing chemotherapy.
carpark opposite the hospital where his mother was
undergoing chemotherapy.
This could be the greatest poster I’ve ever seen.
Friendship always finds a way.
Boy plays video games with his friend who’s stuck in
quarantine at the hospital.
Boy plays video games with his friend who’s stuck in
quarantine at the hospital.
Thousands of people come together to sing Christmas carols
to a dying girl.
to a dying girl.
These girls were raised right.
kindnessblog.com
These two best friends wanted to dress up like their grandmas for Halloween. Hope they aren’t calling their grannies scary!
This reporter wore a grape costume to defend an autistic boy
suspended for wearing a banana suit during a high school
football game.
suspended for wearing a banana suit during a high school
football game.
Quinn beats cancer, now helping others 
'I'd say to them kick cancer in the head'
KELSEY FLETCHERQuinn Hautapu has spent the last 10 months at Aucklands Starship Children's Hospital. A massive brain tumor was found that nearly cost her her life. She is now back home and talks about her time there at the hospital.
: Quinn Hautapu loves Justin Bieber, and helping out other cancer kids.
Palmerston North's Quinn Hautapu has a lot on her plate.
She's helping other children "kick cancer in the head", preparing for her next big acting gig and swooning over her celebrity crush in her Bieber cave.
The 8-year-old - who has a lot to say on health, singer Justin Bieber and staying positive - last year spent 44 weeks beating a malignant aggressive brain cancer called Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour.
Now cancer-free, Quinn has been chosen as one of three Child Cancer Foundation ambassadors for 2014.
Quinn's mother Roanne Hautapu said she was thankful her family were able to give back to the foundation after the support they had received.
"We've just been up in Auckland doing a photoshoot for when they do their appeal week in March," she said.
"There are three kids that are the face of the appeal. It's really cool that we can give back something after Child Cancer has done so much for us in our journey emotionally, physically and financially."
Quinn said the photoshoot had been the best part of being an ambassador so far but she was excited to help other children in their journeys too.
"It was really cool because I got to meet the other kids and also we got to do photoshoots," she said. "I will help other kids keep on fighting, I would say to them kick cancer in the head."
She also hoped her new role as ambassador may get her a meeting with Shortland Street actress Amanda Billing, who plays Sarah Potts, and an extra role on the soap.
Since Quinn has been released from Starship children's hospital in Auckland in October, she was granted her Make-A-Wish to meet Justin Bieber the following month, and was donated a playhouse from the army.
"The whole Make-A-Wish was awesome, we thought we were getting picked up in a taxi [to go to the concert] and there was a massive limo waiting for us," she said.
"He was so awesome and polite and well-spoken. "I gave him a photo album of me when I had my Justin Bieber birthday party, and he kissed me on the cheek and said I was a cutie, and I forgot all the rest."
Inspirational children receive awards in memory of brave Harry Moseley
Harry’z Young Stars was the brainchild of Georgina Moseley, mum of Harry Moseley who died, aged 11, from a brain tumour in October 2011
Diagnosed with leukemia in May, Carla’s journey to help others started only days after hearing her prognosis as she sat in a hospital bed.
“In the first few days I was in the hospital, my cousin needed surgery and couldn’t afford it, so I got a piggybank and charged people to come see me,” Carla explained.
“Any time someone would come in or leave, they would have to pay.”
“She raised $2,100 in two days to pay for my nieces’ surgery in Mexico,” said and astonished Lucy Perez, Carla’s mother.
“I was in shock because she needed this surgery to get a tumor removed and, on top of that, my daughter had just been diagnosed with cancer.
But Carla was focused on helping her.”
“The first thing I asked the doctor was if I was going to lose my hair,” Carla said. “He said yes, and I remember crying for about five minutes, and then I decided it was going to be OK.”
“Her hair was really long, and before we left the hospital she told me, ‘Mommy, I just want to donate it, it’s going to fall out anyway,’” Perez said.
Recounting the story of donating her hair, Carla was reminded of a recent experience she had with a new friend, Tommy the Hacker, a local DJ at 96.9 KISS FM.
“Tommy invited me onto his show, and let me cut all his hair off! I had to use a lot of different types of clippers to get it all off. It was a lot of fun,” Carla said with a huge smile.
“He’s going to let me do it again when it grows back.”
“Nothing was really planned that night other than her coming to the show so I could show my support for her and her journey,” Tommy said.
“Her story is amazing. I remember her saying, ‘hair doesn’t define who a person is’ and when she told me that, I asked her if she had ever shaved a DJ’s head. She got so excited and within 30 minutes I had about five listeners here with clippers.”
“Here she is, an 11-year-old girl going through all of this, and yet she’s out in the community telling others to get out and donate blood,” he said.
This is her calling and that’s the kind of heart she has.
Even if she didn’t have leukemia she would still be in the community setting an example for others.”
Between fundraising, school work, family time and being an advocate, Carla spends three days at Northwest Hospital every other week receiving chemotherapy treatments.
According to Dr. Osvaldo Regueira, a pediatric oncologist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Carla’s doctor, she is one of many children in the area battling leukemia.
“Here in Amarillo, we have a significant number of cases.
Overall, there are around 100 children who are taking treatments, or are in follow-up stages.
On average, we have about three to four new cases of leukemia a year,” Regueira said.
Regueira went on to say that about 80 percent of the pediatric cancers treated in Amarillo are leukemia, but that it also is the disease’s most curable form.
“The chance of a child being cured is about 85 to 90 percent.
They’re young, their bodies can withstand the treatments and their organs can recover quickly.
A lot of it comes from the amount of research we have invested in children,” Regueira said.
“The interesting thing is, kids handle the sickness well.
Adults are the ones who fall apart, because adults have a better understanding of things.
Doctors see it all the time, that the kids hold up the family.”
Carla’s parents likely would probably agree her energetic and positive personality is what helps them keep their heads up.
Even with Carla’s positive progress, her chemo treatments still can leave her feeling bad or needing blood, and a decrease in donations has made it difficult for the brave girl to get the blood she needs.
“People don’t’ realize how weak she can get without blood.
My husband and I have gone to the hospital a few times carrying her like a baby,” Perez explained.
“I wish I could record the before and after of when she receives the transfusion.
There is nothing that can replace what she loses.
We have to wait 45 days to get blood when there isn’t any available, and let me tell you that is a long time when you need blood.”
This need, not only her own, launched Carla into yet another project.
“I saw her cute little bald head crossing the lobby, and knew I just had to get to know her and her story,” Suzanne Talley, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Coffee Memorial Blood Center, said.
“She actually knew the crew from Telemundo, and asked if we did too, because we are currently working with them to reach out to the Hispanic community.
So we all got together and she became a bilingual ambassador for us and that’s where it all started.”
Carla’s efforts didn’t stop there, as she was the ambassador for the blood center at the recent Boots vs. Badges softball game.
Each year the center chooses two families who shared their story and have gone above and beyond their circumstances.
“We have just loved meeting Carla, but it was really our mission to reach out to her and her family in a difficult time.
We wanted to love and support her during her fight with cancer, but with her giving heart she wanted to give back,” Talley said.
“Carla will tell you that she feels good doing projects and it’s her desire to give back and make blood available for others.
We’re thankful to be on the receiving end.”
Giving out pictures of herself or ribbons and bracelets she makes while in the hospital, Carla not only raised almost $1,000 at the softball game, but raised a similar amount for one of her nurses, who participated in the Over the Edge fundraiser last month.
“Carla is remarkable and raises funds wherever she goes,” Talley said, explaining Carla’s charm.
“We also have numerous people come in and give blood in her honor or hold blood drives for her.”
And that is how Sandra Yarborough found out about Carla and her fundraising efforts.
While donating blood one day, Yarborough overheard one of Carla’s teachers praising her efforts.
She then contacted Carla and her mother and organized a blood drive in her name.
“This girl has such a big heart and she loves everybody,” Yarborough said.
“When I first met Carla, I went down to give her a hug and when I looked down she had slipped a bracelet on my wrist before we let go.
That’s when I knew I had to do something for her.”
The blood drive for Carla is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Quail Creek Church of Christ, 801 Tascosa Rd.
Carla wants people to understand how she feels about blood donation.
“The big C isn’t for cancer,” she said, “It’s for Christ.
Everyone should come and donate, because what about the other kids?
They need to focus on getting better and they need blood, too.
What am I going to do with all the blood we raise? I want to give it away.”
Inspirational children receive awards in memory of brave Harry Moseley
Harry’z Young Stars was the brainchild of Georgina Moseley, mum of Harry Moseley who died, aged 11, from a brain tumour in October 2011
Brave and inspirational children received special awards yesterday – named in honour of a brave and inspirational Birmingham schoolboy.
Harry’z Young Stars was the brainchild of Georgina Moseley, mum of Harry Moseley who died, aged 11, from a brain tumour in October 2011.
As part of the charity’s work, she wanted to honour other children battling their own health problems or who were helping others.
And yesterday, children from across the West Midlands were honoured at a ceremony at South and City College in Birmingham.
Proud Georgina said: “Harry was an amazing boy and his work inspired so many kids to do good.
“Today is a very special day which recognises and celebrates some very special and inspirational children and young people from around the West Midlands.
“So many awards take place in our city but none to specifically recognise individual children that go above and beyond being a ‘typical child’ until now.”
There were 10 awards on the day.
Jack Groom, 12, from Norton Canes, Staffordshire, scooped both the Harry’z Hero Individual Award and Harry’z Shining Star Award.
The Norton Canes High School student has twice battled leukaemia, yet has raised thousands of pounds on behalf of HHHO.
Dad Des said: “I am so very proud of Jack. It was very emotional to see him get this award. He doesn’t really want any personal recognition, he just likes to help others.”
Rose Fulford, nine, scooped the Selfless Individual Award after she was inspired to fundraise following the death of her sister Billie from bone cancer in 2012.
What makes Rose’s efforts even more incredible is that she suffers from Kawasaki Disease, a rare condition which affects the kidneys.
Rose receives treatment at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and last Christmas raised enough money to buy a Nintendo Wii, DVDs and games for young patients in Ward 1.
Mum Esther, from Small Heath, said: “Rose always says there are other people worse off than her. She has such a wonderful positive attitude and I am so proud of her.”
Chloe Hudson, 12, who goes to Lode Heath School, won the Individual Bravery Award. She has undergone painful operations to straighten her legs and also suffered a spinal stroke – but continues to battle back.
Her father Michael, from Solihull, said: “She is so brave and really does deserve this award. We are all very proud of her as she has been through so much.”
Best Friend Award went to eight-year-old Leah Wright who was inspired to raise funds because of a friend who is currently fighting leukaemia.
She has spent hours raising funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and most recently organised a craft fair at home, where she designed raffle tickets and organised other competitions.
Luci-Mai Jones, who has orthaepedic problems, scooped the Young Carer Award for caring for her elderly grandmother who has severe dementia.
Other winners included Shazan Ashraf, 15, who won the Youth Rehabilitation Award. Shazan was sometimes getting into trouble at school so his father introduced him to boxing. Now he fights at an amateur level and also volunteers in the community.
Prabjoat Layal, 16, won the Community Charity Individual Award after raising more than £3,000 for the Edward’s Trust after receiving support following the death of her father six years ago.
She has since become an ambassador for the charity.
The Community Charity Class Award went to the 10 REA Form Group from Hamstead Hall Academy in Birmingham. The students have been raising money for St Basil’s Charity against youth homelessness.
The students decided to help the charity by organising events to raise money including a bake sale, football tournament, disco and non-uniform day.
All together they raised £1,400.
The final award winner was Hazel Oak School, based in Shirley, who won the Schools Enterprize Class Award for producing ‘Space Chutney’, after deciding that astronauts needed a bit more flavour with their food.
The children planned, researched and made the chutney which was then sold at the Christmas fayre and local farm shops.
Speaking after the awards, Georgina added: “The event has been a great success.
‘‘We are hoping it will now become an annual awards event and will be even bigger next year. I am so proud of all the winners and I know that Harry would be as well.”
Child with leukemia focuses on others
Soaring high above Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium, Carla Contreras arrived at the Boots vs. Badges softball game in grand style. But her purpose wasn’t to enjoy the game. It was to do what she does best: Raise money for those battling an illness, just like her.
Diagnosed with leukemia in May, Carla’s journey to help others started only days after hearing her prognosis as she sat in a hospital bed.
“In the first few days I was in the hospital, my cousin needed surgery and couldn’t afford it, so I got a piggybank and charged people to come see me,” Carla explained.
“Any time someone would come in or leave, they would have to pay.”
“She raised $2,100 in two days to pay for my nieces’ surgery in Mexico,” said and astonished Lucy Perez, Carla’s mother.
“I was in shock because she needed this surgery to get a tumor removed and, on top of that, my daughter had just been diagnosed with cancer.
But Carla was focused on helping her.”
Motivated to continue her service to others instead of focusing on her illness, Carla donated her hair to the Locks of Love organization.
“The first thing I asked the doctor was if I was going to lose my hair,” Carla said. “He said yes, and I remember crying for about five minutes, and then I decided it was going to be OK.”
“Her hair was really long, and before we left the hospital she told me, ‘Mommy, I just want to donate it, it’s going to fall out anyway,’” Perez said.
Recounting the story of donating her hair, Carla was reminded of a recent experience she had with a new friend, Tommy the Hacker, a local DJ at 96.9 KISS FM.
“Tommy invited me onto his show, and let me cut all his hair off! I had to use a lot of different types of clippers to get it all off. It was a lot of fun,” Carla said with a huge smile.
“He’s going to let me do it again when it grows back.”
“Nothing was really planned that night other than her coming to the show so I could show my support for her and her journey,” Tommy said.
“Her story is amazing. I remember her saying, ‘hair doesn’t define who a person is’ and when she told me that, I asked her if she had ever shaved a DJ’s head. She got so excited and within 30 minutes I had about five listeners here with clippers.”
“Here she is, an 11-year-old girl going through all of this, and yet she’s out in the community telling others to get out and donate blood,” he said.
This is her calling and that’s the kind of heart she has.
Even if she didn’t have leukemia she would still be in the community setting an example for others.”
Appearing on Telemundo and talking to classes at West Texas A&M University,
Carla continues to educate others on her condition and encourage people to assist any way they can.
Carla continues to educate others on her condition and encourage people to assist any way they can.
Between fundraising, school work, family time and being an advocate, Carla spends three days at Northwest Hospital every other week receiving chemotherapy treatments.
According to Dr. Osvaldo Regueira, a pediatric oncologist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Carla’s doctor, she is one of many children in the area battling leukemia.
“Here in Amarillo, we have a significant number of cases.
Overall, there are around 100 children who are taking treatments, or are in follow-up stages.
On average, we have about three to four new cases of leukemia a year,” Regueira said.
Regueira went on to say that about 80 percent of the pediatric cancers treated in Amarillo are leukemia, but that it also is the disease’s most curable form.
“The chance of a child being cured is about 85 to 90 percent.
They’re young, their bodies can withstand the treatments and their organs can recover quickly.
A lot of it comes from the amount of research we have invested in children,” Regueira said.
“The interesting thing is, kids handle the sickness well.
Adults are the ones who fall apart, because adults have a better understanding of things.
Doctors see it all the time, that the kids hold up the family.”
Carla’s parents likely would probably agree her energetic and positive personality is what helps them keep their heads up.
Even with Carla’s positive progress, her chemo treatments still can leave her feeling bad or needing blood, and a decrease in donations has made it difficult for the brave girl to get the blood she needs.
“People don’t’ realize how weak she can get without blood.
My husband and I have gone to the hospital a few times carrying her like a baby,” Perez explained.
“I wish I could record the before and after of when she receives the transfusion.
There is nothing that can replace what she loses.
We have to wait 45 days to get blood when there isn’t any available, and let me tell you that is a long time when you need blood.”
This need, not only her own, launched Carla into yet another project.
“I saw her cute little bald head crossing the lobby, and knew I just had to get to know her and her story,” Suzanne Talley, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Coffee Memorial Blood Center, said.
“She actually knew the crew from Telemundo, and asked if we did too, because we are currently working with them to reach out to the Hispanic community.
So we all got together and she became a bilingual ambassador for us and that’s where it all started.”
Carla’s efforts didn’t stop there, as she was the ambassador for the blood center at the recent Boots vs. Badges softball game.
Each year the center chooses two families who shared their story and have gone above and beyond their circumstances.
“We have just loved meeting Carla, but it was really our mission to reach out to her and her family in a difficult time.
We wanted to love and support her during her fight with cancer, but with her giving heart she wanted to give back,” Talley said.
“Carla will tell you that she feels good doing projects and it’s her desire to give back and make blood available for others.
We’re thankful to be on the receiving end.”
Giving out pictures of herself or ribbons and bracelets she makes while in the hospital, Carla not only raised almost $1,000 at the softball game, but raised a similar amount for one of her nurses, who participated in the Over the Edge fundraiser last month.
“Carla is remarkable and raises funds wherever she goes,” Talley said, explaining Carla’s charm.
“We also have numerous people come in and give blood in her honor or hold blood drives for her.”
And that is how Sandra Yarborough found out about Carla and her fundraising efforts.
While donating blood one day, Yarborough overheard one of Carla’s teachers praising her efforts.
She then contacted Carla and her mother and organized a blood drive in her name.
“This girl has such a big heart and she loves everybody,” Yarborough said.
“When I first met Carla, I went down to give her a hug and when I looked down she had slipped a bracelet on my wrist before we let go.
That’s when I knew I had to do something for her.”
The blood drive for Carla is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Quail Creek Church of Christ, 801 Tascosa Rd.
Carla wants people to understand how she feels about blood donation.
“The big C isn’t for cancer,” she said, “It’s for Christ.
Everyone should come and donate, because what about the other kids?
They need to focus on getting better and they need blood, too.
What am I going to do with all the blood we raise? I want to give it away.”
