Kid hero Maija Ruth is just getting started helping out in her community by making blessing bags.
“I’ve been volunteering a year,” the 8-year-old, who attends Owl Creek Elementary in Fayetteville, said. “My mom and dad started making Blessing Bags. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ They started telling me about it. I was like, ‘Can I help?’ and they were like, ‘Sure.’ I started getting into it and started helping them.”
Maija is quick to explain the goal of Blessing Bags and how they help foster families and foster children.
“Foster kids don’t have anything,” she told me. “I have a lot of toys. They probably have none. So, if we give them some toys and donate to them, then they will have stuff too.”
Once Maija started to better understand the circumstances often faced by foster children and families, her empathy was apparent.
“They don’t have parents or anything,” she explained. “I feel really sad for them. It’s very hard for them.”
During her time packing Blessing Bags she has had the opportunity to meet foster kids and better understand their challenges.
“I know some foster kids,” she said. “It makes it more important to me. They go through a lot of stuff. I wish my mom and dad could take them, but they can’t because they already have a lot.”
The Blessing Bag crew hosts events to pack bags with items foster kids will need… lotions, tooth paste, tooth brushes, body wash and blankets. Maija circulates flyers at those events to educates people about the need for donations and financial support.
“I just want to make it better for them,” she said. “I just want them to be better.”