An Attala County youngster who knows the joy that comes with getting a gift while confined to a hospital room wants to do her part in helping children with chronic illnesses who will be spending Easter in the hospital.
Through the efforts of eight-year-old Allie Grayce Gibson of Kosciusko, 150 Easter baskets were delivered last Saturday to the Mississippi Center for Advance Medicine in Madison. After being diagnosed with hereditary spherocytosis when she was three weeks old Allie Grayce has spent many days in hospitals and knows the joy that comes with a gift. Many of her hospital stays have been at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children in Jackson.
She is the daughter of Kevin and Rhonda Gibson of Kosciusko and is a student at Middle Elementary School.
This is not her first effort at donating baskets of treats and toys to hospitalized children at special times during the year. With the help of family members, friends, clubs and organizations, she has for several years spearheaded the collection of toys and treats for the baskets.
Allie’s Joys, a non-profit organization, has recently been established in an effort to expand her outreach. A facebook page and alliesjoys@gmail.com are also on line to help with her collections.Her mother said Allie Grayce got the idea after participating in a Christmas toy drive held at Patterson Jewelers and thought that children should be remembered at other times also. Her parents said her desire to help others inspires them to get involved.
Allie Grayce’s compassion for others has spilled into classrooms at Middle Elementary School where toys have been collected. “We want to say a special thank you to Donna Browning at Middle who organized a toy drive,” Gibson said. “We appreciate all that the commumity does in helping,” he added.
Monetary donations are accepted along with toys and with the establishment of the email address, facebook and Allie’s Joys, the Gibsons said they hope their daughter will be able to continue spreading her kindness and compassion to an added number of children with chronic illnesses.
