The best presents

Published June 29th, 2008

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

Carolyn Castillo of Boca Raton got exactly what she wanted for her 10th birthday this year.

Nothing.

Nothing, that is, except donations for Boca Helping Hands.

“She likes giving to other people,” said Carolyn’s mother, Frann.  Giving to Boca Helping Hands “made me feel good,” said mom. “I’m so proud of her.”

Carolyn said she got the idea from her sister.  “She collected for her birthday,” she said. “I thought that was a really nice idea.”

The youngster who will be a fifth grader at Del Prado Elementary School in the fall decided to ask her friends to bring only food donations for Boca Helping Hands’ for her birthday. BHH helps needy people in the community with a food kitchen, sandwich program and financial assistance.

As a result of the generosity Carolyn engendered, Boca Helping Hands received more than 200 pounds of food. 

“I am always so pleased to see that children in our area understand that when we have abundance in our lives, we should be willing to give help to others,” said Linda Gove, executive director of Boca Helping Hands. “Carolyn and her family are wonderful examples of this.”

For BHH this month, it’s been something of a small world.  “We had a little 8-year-old, Owen Nottman, who brought us the proceeds from his lemonade stand,” said Gove.

And Benjamin D’Addio came in with a roll of quarters.

Lemonade stands and neighborhood food drives are popular among kids.  Gove said one young man has collected 1,100 cans for his bar mitzvah project.  Not only that, Boca Helping Hands got the food baskets from the ceremony.

Gove said “Carolyn has contributed to our programs in the past and so when her birthday came up, she wanted to do more to help the less fortunate neighbor. She told her mother that she felt so good after donating the food.”

Mom agreed.

In addition to dealing with families with food or financial crises, Boca Helping Hands has a job mentoring and job placement program to “help people break the cycle of dependency,” said Gove.