Every little girl about to turn 8 years old wants presents for her birthday, right? Well, not necessarily.
When Celina and U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul Farlow began asking their daughter, Ada Grace, what she wanted as her big day approached this past summer, she surprised them. The Columbus Christian Academy third-grader didn’t lobby for toys, trendy clothes or entertaining outings. She wanted, instead, to do something nice for someone else.
Ever since Ada Grace participated in a trike-a-thon charity fundraiser back in kindergarten, she has been aware that there are some very sick, very small children who have to go to big hospitals to get well.
Through a friend, her parents learned of a specific little girl from Jones County who was to undergo a heart transplant at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson. After hearing about 5-year-old Jenna Wilson of Laurel, Ada Grace was determined to raise money for the hospital. She also wanted to get something special for this new friend she had yet to even meet.
First, of course, the birthday girl asked her party guests to bring only donations for the hospital, nothing for her. And then, she got creative with ways to build the bank, like selling blueberry muffins at her brothers’ baseball games. Her enterprising coup, though, had to have been the afternoon she set up a table in a hallway at home and “charged” her three brothers — Jonah and Caleb, both 11, and Eli, 8 — to pass through.
“The boys played along with her and had a blast,” mom Celina said of her daughter’s in-house toll booth. “They paid her from their own money.”
“At first I was kinda frustrated because the only money I had was in my piggy bank, and I kinda wanted to keep it,” Caleb admitted, “but then I realized she was doing something right.”
Face to face
When she had raised more than $250 total, Ada Grace and her mother scheduled a trip to Jackson to deliver the donation to Batson’s. They were eager to meet Jenna. But first, a shopping trip was called for to pick up a few things for the young heart patient who had endured seven surgeries. The Farlows’ purchases included a Shopkins Fashion Boutique set that was high on Jenna’s wish list, plus a new backpack and lunchbox, among other items.
When the girls finally met, there were smiles all around.
“I wanted to help her because she had a heart transplant,” explained Ada Grace. “I was kinda nervous at first, but once I saw her I was like, ‘Wow, I never knew it would be like this!'”
Jenna’s parents, Jeremy and Jessica Wilson, were touched by Ada Grace’s kindness.
“For her to be so young and to want to think of others in the way that she did is … I just don’t know the right words to express it,” said a grateful Jessica. “They’re both just a blessing. God has touched both of those little girls with such caring hearts.”
The families still keep up with each other online, sharing pictures and the good news that Jenna, who spent 106 days in the hospital, is “doing wonderful.”
Now that Ada Grace is a veteran fundraiser, she offers a tip for other kids who might want to do likewise: “They could get their mom to make some brownies or muffins or something, and they could just go ask people to buy them.”
And that simply, one little girl has reminded the adults around her that all it really takes is choosing a goal and a willingness to stick to it.
“Ada Grace really wanted this to be a success, and she had a fabulous time doing it,” her mother said. “Her heart was truly in the right place the entire time.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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