Whether it’s raising money for the homeless or organizing coat drives or collections of bottled water, these boys and girls are showing it’s not your size or age that matters, it’s your heart that counts. Here are just a few local kids making a difference.           

 

Last year, six-year-old Gracie donated money from her piggy bank to feed 15 meals to Nashville’s homeless. This year, Gracie took things a step further and organized a coat drive.

“This was all Gracie’s idea,” says mom Amy. “After donating her own money last year, she wanted to do more. Gracie made flyers that said ‘Warm Somebody With Your Heart’ and posted them at church.” Gracie’s efforts resulted in 85 coats for Nashville’s homeless.

“It makes me sad to see someone standing on the street corner without a coat,” said Gracie. “I hope these coats will keep them warm.”

“It makes me feel good to know I’m helping someone in need,” says Bryson.

 

 

Jacob Head couldn’t believe it when he saw a homeless man was standing on the side of the road one day asking for money. He begged his mom to help, but she explained he might spend the cash on the “wrong things” and suggested they come up with a way to help more than just this one man.

That incident two years ago has led 8-year-old Jacob and his twin brothers Samuel and Nathaniel (6) to donate over 100 blankets and 140 sets of hats, gloves and scarves to Nashville’s homeless. 

As Jacob left the Mission last year, he could be heard saying, “We’ll be back sometime this summer. I know the homeless will need bottled water.”

True to his word, Jacob and his brothers returned to the Mission this summer after collecting over 2,000 bottles of water. And at Thanksgiving, they returned with 3 milk jugs filled with coins and money they had collected from their friends and family in Westmoreland, Tennessee.

“I’m on a mission to help as many homeless men, women and children as I can,” said Jacob. “They are in need and I want to help.”

  

 

 

 

When Tracy Moore asked her 6-year-old son Michael what he wanted to do with his piggy bank savings he said, “I want to donate it to the Nashville Rescue Mission to help the homeless.”

“This is another touching example of a kid who has a heart to help those who are in need,” says Cliff

Tredway, Director of Communications and Marketing for the Nashville Rescue Mission. “Michael’s donation of over $200 will go a long way in providing food, clothing and shelter to the homeless in our community.”

 

 

It all started when a teacher from Smithson-Craighead Academy was teaching a lesson on ways to help in the community, when a student with concerns about feeding the homeless mentioned a commercial he’d seen that referenced providing a meal for $2.26. What started out as a lesson on community responsibility grew into a math lesson. This generated the question, “How many can we feed with one turkey?”

The students devised a formula and then it became a third grade class project. It wasn’t long before the second grade and fourth grade wanted in on the action. When all was said and done, the students raised $325.00 for the homeless of Middle Tennessee.

 

 

On the 100th day of school, 7-year-old Kasey Lane was asked what she would do with $100. While most kids were envisioning a Wii or an iPod, Kasey was thinking of how this $100 could help the poor and homeless.

“I’m so proud of Kasey,” says mom Amy. “Whenever she sees someone on the side of the road, she wants to help them.”

“When I become President,” said Kasey, “there won’t be any more homeless or hungry people because I’m going to make sure they have what they need.”

 

It is through the faithful support of friends like you and kids like these that provide the necessary steps to get a homeless man, woman and child from where they are to the place God desires them to be.