Rebecca wants you to have a heart

Wed, Jul 29th 2015, 01:44 PM

At 10 years old, Rebecca Roberts already has a sense of philanthropy and is on a mission to raise money to aid the work of The Sir Victor Sassoon Heart Foundation, which helps children born with heart problems, and raise awareness of the work the foundation does through her Hearts for Hope program.

Since May, the Genesis Academy student's handcrafts heart-shaped pins that she sells for $1 per pin, with the funds raised earmarked for The Foundation. Rebecca's goal is to raise $500 by the end of summer to donate to the foundation. She's currently at $360.

Rebecca, who will enter sixth grade in the fall, came up with the idea of Hearts for Hope after hearing about the plight of children born with heart problems. It bothered her so much that she says she spent two sleepless nights trying to think about ways in which she could help. She decided on making heart pins, and selling the pins to raise money for the foundation.

In her quest to learn more about the foundation, she placed a call to organization inquiring as to what the organization was about and what they do. She also did research of her own on their website where she learned that 70 percent out of each dollar The Foundation receives goes straight to help the children.

Realizing that every dollar counts, Rebecca said she knew she wanted to do her part to help. That sealed her decision to make her hearts.

"You have a lot of things in your life, and some people are not as fortunate as you, so you can do something about that with small things and then turn them into bigger things. People should start small and it will eventually grow and develop bigger," she said.

Without any former craft-making experience, Rebecca went right into making her hearts. She launched her Hearts For Hope Facebook page and started selling the pins that she said she takes her time to make with a product that she's proud of in the end.

"I feel like I'm going to change the world one day," said Rebecca of her Hearts for Hope mission. "I don't know anyone personally with heart problems, but I did go to Immigration to sell pins, and one of the people that purchased a pin had a niece with a heart problem," she said.

To date, her largest one time order has been for 20 heart pins. With a little over a month to the start of the new school year, while she has a lot of free time on her hands, Rebecca is hoping to receive more orders so that she can attain her goal of $500 before school starts.

An only child, Rebecca received her seed money to get started in her heart-making project from her parents, Darin and Charmaine Roberts. She said their initial $20 went a long way in the purchasing of material. She would like to see Hearts for Hope grow and even when school resumes, she plans to continue to make hearts to sell during her school breaks and for occasions like Valentine's Day, giving people the opportunity to show that they do care.

Rebecca's civic-mindedness does not start and end with The Heart Foundation. She's a member of her school's newly formed Early Act Club, the youngest members of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, and will take up the position of secretary when school resumes. She also volunteers at the Bahamas Humane Society sitting with the cats and kittens, a few times a month with her mom. And she and her dad are engaged in recycling initiatives at St. Andrew's School monthly.

Rebecca, who is an honor roll student at Genesis Academy has a cumulative 3.76 grade point average, and to her, at a very young age, education means getting a better job and a better life. She's still young and has many years to change her mind, but for right now she wants to learn sign language and teach sign language -- just another way Rebecca wants to give back.

Her mother says Rebecca's Hearts for Hope initiative is something that has made her even more proud of her daughter who she says is enthusiastic about everything she gets involved with. Both mother and daughter are only children, but Roberts says she tries to take the extra time to instill in her daughter right and wrong, which she says shows in the person that Rebecca is growing into.

"I'm extremely proud of her," said Roberts.

Anyone wanting to assist Rebecca in her mission to help The Foundation assist children with heart problems, can place their orders on Rebecca's Facebook page Hearts for Hope. She will get in contact with them and make arrangements to get their pins to them.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads