Eight-year-old continues to raise money for food bank, Sick Kids
Feb 04, 2010 - 02:37 PM
By Kristen Calis
PICKERING -- Maya Preston turned eight years old on Saturday and already she's raised around $800 in financial donations toward charities that are close to her heart, since collecting for them at her birthday parties became a tradition a couple of years ago.
And that's not including the boxes of food the young Pickering resident has gathered for St. Paul's On-the-Hill Community Food Bank.
On Sunday, Maya celebrated her birthday at the McLean Community Centre in Ajax and the 16 kids who attended were asked to avoid giving her presents, but instead take donations for the food bank and cheques for the Hospital For Sick Children and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. She raised around $200 in donations, plus additional online contributions, and three boxes of food.
"It makes me feel happy and proud of myself," she said.
Maya, a Grade 2 student at Blaisdale Montessori School in Pickering, explained that while she usually donates to the MS Society, she chose to add Sick Kids to her list because her cousin recently died at the hospital due to heart disease.
Her parents explained giving is an important part of their Baha'i religion.
"We encourage her because of our religious beliefs to give back instead of being materialistic," said her father, Nick Preston.
Maya's mother, Farah Preston, is proud that her daughter is demonstrating to other kids just how important giving can be.
"I wish more children would do that," she said.
The initiative seems to be catching on in Maya's eyes.
"Some kids in my class say they're going to do it, too," she said.
Although Maya stuck with the charities that hit close to home, she said she's donating to Haiti relief at school. She also hopes to donate a portion of her lot from her ninth birthday party to Haiti due to the expected lengthy rebuilding process.
"Some people say it'll take one year but it'll take more than that to build a new country," she said.
While ideas keep swirling in Maya's head on what she'll be when she grows up -- possibly a hair dresser, a chef or a doctor -- she knows that no matter what she does, she'll continue helping those in need.
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