NORTH ADAMS, Mass.- Terra Crews just turned 9 years old, but she already has a heart bigger than many adults.
Terra, a third-grader at St. Stanislaus Kostka School, wanted to do something different for her birthday last weekend. So instead of asking for presents, she asked her friends to bring items to donate to local veterans. She then packaged them together in cute little paper bags she decorated with reindeer antleers and googly eyes.
Terra and her parents delivered the bags on Friday morning to the Veterans Office in North Adams City Hall, which serves 160 veterans in North Adams as well as Adams, Clarksburg, Florida, Savoy and Williamstown. The bags were filled with items like candy, playing cards, mouthwash and gum.
Mom Carrie Crews said Terra originally had suggested donating the items to the veterans hospital in Northampton but decided to keep the donations local.
"We saw in the paper that we were in need locally," Crews said.
Tina Samson, assistant to veterans agent Stephen Roy, said she was in tears on Thursday when Crews called to ask when she could drop off the bags.
"My heart was just melting," she said. "She was like our little angel."
Samson said Terra's goodie bags will be added to bags already made up for local veterans that include items like clothing, socks gathered at sock drives held at local banks, and toiletries collected by Little's Pharmacy. That will supplement the gift cards Samson has collected for veterans, as well as the 500 pounds of food being delivered to the office next week by the 4H.
"This is a tremendous outpouring," Roy said.
As for Terra, as a thank you to the little girl with the big heart, Samson gave her a card with passes to the North Adams Movieplex as she thanked her for giving up her birthday.
"Oh, she didn't give up her birthday," dad Shawn Cook laughed. "She had a great time at her pool party. She just didn't get as many gifts."
What a sweetheart! A St. Stan's third-grader asked for donations for local veterans instead of presents for her 9th birthday: http://tinyurl.com/pqb2t35
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