Rochester Youth Makes Blessing Bags for Homeless
A few weeks ago I received an email from a woman in Rochester sharing about her 13-year old daughter, Karina. The reason for her note was through a mutual interest. Karina won the Young Leader recognition from KTTC for her altruistic efforts in the community making blessing bags for homeless people and in the process, someone that works there let the mother know about me and that maybe I could help them with supplies so they could keep it going. Homelessness is very near and dear to my heart. As many of you know I coordinate the CAKE (Caring Acts of Kindness Everywhere) group and we have put together hundreds of blessing bags so the note about Karina couldn't have come at a better time. I had two boxes of them in my house! I invited them over to my place to pick them up and also asked Karina if she'd like to do a random act of kindness with me - of course she said yes!
Karina and her mom (a brother, sister and dad) all came over to pick up the boxes of supplies. After they piled them in, we headed out to pick up tacos (I know, it's everyone's fav, right?!?) and headed over to a friends house to deliver dinner. Karina was so sweet as we conversed in the car over our favorite thing - acts of kindness! Our recipient was incredibly grateful and that made us smile. Afterwards, we headed over to the station and I gave the family a tour. I was really impressed with Karina and her genuine desire to help those in our community they need it.
Not only does Karina make blessing bags but she's also baking cookies and selling them to raise money to help her grandmother who is ailing. We're already making plans to get together to bake cookies. If you're interested in providing supplies to Karina for the homeless blessing bags - let me know and I will connect you with her mother.
The future sure is bright knowing we have someone like Karina in this world.
Want to making blessing bags yourself? Here's a great video showing how to make a kit for someone that is homeless: