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One (young) person decides to make a difference

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

People are constantly invited to fundraisers, asked to support one cause or another, and everyone does what they can.

How would you like to be invited to a banquet being hosted by a 12-year-old to benefit the homeless in East St. Louis.

Jashira Bolden, 12, has been raising money since she was 8, she said. “I started during Christmas because I wanted people to have presents.”

She raised $250.00 by selling partnership cards for Krispy Kreme, and the money went to Holy Angels Shelter. The next year, she decided to raise money and give out Easter baskets to the shelter.

In this, her third year of fundraising, she put together a committee of adults, mostly from her St. Augustine of Hippo Parish, to help with the banquet she called: “A Gift for You and a Gift for the Homeless.”

This time, she raised enough money to give checks of $1,000 each to Holy Angels, St. Joseph Veterans Center and Second Chance shelters.

Committee member Madie Dowell said Jashira “takes directions really well.”

While many young people her age believe life is “all about me,” Jashira reaches out to help others, Dowell said. “It inspires you,” she said. “It did me.”

Paulyn Snyder, who accepted a check on behalf of Holy Angels Shelter said she was also happy to accept the check.

“Think of how many people she’s touching,” Snyder said after the check presentation. People have to remember what Scripture said: “A child shall lead them.”

Dowell said she’s already told Jashira “I’m in for next year.”

And Jashira said she expects to host another fundraiser next year. “I want everyone to have the joy of having something of their own,” she said.

Judge Milton Wharton, parishioner and someone who has watched her develop over the years, said: “She is also very intelligent, articulate, charming, and in a positive way, strikingly precocious.

“Over the years, I have watched with amazement and delight as her goals and organizational skills have grown more sophisticated, from providing Easter baskets to underprivileged children, to hosting her recent charitable fund raising dinner.

“She is a child, whom God has blessed with an enormous talent; who knowingly accepts the attendant responsibility to use it for the common good with a radiant faith-driven enthusiasm,” he said.