Since working for theChive for 7 years now, it’s safe to say that one thing sticks out more than the rest when reflecting on my time here. It’s not the parties, or the girls or the free booze. It’s genuinely the enjoyment of helping others. Now I know that can be pretty broad with help coming in many forms, but having to opportunity to help people in one way or another has been the most valuable thing in my life.
The same can be said for Caroline, a young girl who was inspired to start sending care packages to young people battling life-threatening diseases. It started when Caroline was scrolling Instagram like any other day and noticed a story about a little girl battling neuroblastoma and messaged her mother asking if she could send them a cheer package. She did it out of the goodness of her heart, but when the mother sent Carline the little girls’ response, she knew that these cheer packages could go a long way in young children’s lives.
I sent a couple more cheer packages and then decided to make this into an actual organization – Caroline’s Cheer Packages. I created an Instagram, GoFundMe, and Facebook page. Donations were slow for a while, but I continued sending out packages.
Recently, the Instagram account @globalpositivenews posted about Caroline’s Cheer packages, and I was interviewed by the group Hashtag Our Stories. That publicity resulted in over $1,000 in donations. I have been blown away by all the support. I think we can add a little something to that.
So far, I’ve sent out almost 19 packages, and I have many more that I’m currently working on. In the future, I hope to register Caroline’s Cheer Packages as an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the state of Maine.
For every package, I ask the recipient what their favorite character is. I draw that character on the card and weave a friendship bracelet in the color scheme of that character.
This just goes to show a little can go a long way. Here’s what some of Caroline’s packages look like.
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