A kid hero
"If you could have any three things, what would you want?"
Eleven-year-old Ruby Chitsey loves asking that question, but it's not a game she plays. She asks the seniors(老年人)at nursing homes in Arkansas where she lives. Even more amazing, she then sets out to make their wishes come true. Ruby has long been close to the elders. Her mother has worked in nursing homes for many years. Ruby often stays with her in summer and asks the seniors if they need anything.
Last May, Ruby noticed an old lady named Pearl staring(凝视) out a window. She seemed sad. "What are you looking at?" Ruby asked. Pearl said she was watching her dog being led away by his new owner. Ruby asked around and discovered that nursing home doesn't allow the seniors to have dogs and Pearl couldn't afford to pay anyone to look after her dog. Ruby also heard many stories about Pearl's friends here and found that they were unable to afford life costs. That was when she decided to do something about it.
She started by asking the seniors what three things they wanted most in the world. Her mother worried that people would ask for cars and other things that an 11-year-old wouldn't be able to provide. Instead, they asked for chocolate, fries, and even just pants that fit properly.
"I felt really upset," Ruby says. "We left the nursing home that day and went straight to a store and bought as many things as we could."
Using their own money, Ruby and her mother helped about 100 people in three months. Then, they started asking for donations (捐款). The good people in Arkansas strongly supported them, so Ruby and her mother set up a GoFundMe page—Three Wishes for Ruby's Residents. After GoFundMe named Ruby a Kid Hero and spread her story internationally, Three Wishes raised more than $250, 000 in five months. One of Ruby's new goals is to set up a shared computer in one nursing home in each state.
Ruby doesn't plan to stop there. "I consider kindness to be my hobby" she says, "and I'm very good at it."
