A large group of volunteers is sorting groceries in the Hunger Solution Center today. Some are wearing corporate shirts from local companies as they separate dry goods, while families and friends are hauling yellow crates full of canned foods and bagged rice.
If you look across the volunteer area, you might miss the team’s most diminutive member. At just over four feet tall, Reagan Hussey is easily shadowed by her taller companions, but make no mistake – she’s determined, and hauling far more than her weight.
“I like sorting the food, it’s kind of fun to me”, says 10-year-old Reagan.
Although she barely rises above the table she’s working at, the groceries are moving at quite a clip. Reagan has come here with her mother Robyn, who can’t resist a smile when Reagan tells us why she’s here.
“I wanted to help people because I got inspired by the movie, Little Red Wagon. There was a kid in the movie who helped the homeless because of Hurricane Charlie. I guess I just wanted to do the same.”
And what better day to get involved than today, her tenth birthday!
Reagan is one of several youngsters now showing up to help since the Food Lifeline volunteer team lowered the minimum age to 10- years old. She says that’s great news since school’s out and she has time to lend a hand.
This Fall, Reagan will start the fifth grade. What will she tell her friends about her birthday party? Reagan says she’ll ask them to join her.
“I will say it’s fun, and you would feel really good after because you’ll know you helped people.”
Because it’s not the size of your hands that matters, it’s the size of your heart.
