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Greencastle child demonstrates the act of giving
Children look forward to their birthday each year. The highlight of most children's birthdays typically is being with their families and receiving birthday presents.
But for a Greencastle child, Chloey Barnett, the highlight was giving away all of her presents.
Ten-year-old Chloey is a frequent visitor of the Riley Children's Hospital, Indianapolis. Chloey and her younger sister both have vesicoureteral reflux or VUR.
Chloey was diagnosed a year and a half ago while her sister was diagnosed just a couple weeks after being born. Now, her daily life consists of constantly monitoring the amount of water she intakes daily as well as watching what she eats, nothing with red dyes.
"She's okay with it," explained mother Elizabeth Barnett. "At first it was a little hard on her."
In an attempt to avoid surgery the family has decided to take the route of trying out new medicines. During her December visit Chloey will find out if the treatment is working or if surgery is the only option.
The surgery would attempt to fix one of the ureters, tubes, connected to the urethra, by removing the blockage causing the reflux.
"We, of course, hope it doesn't have to go to that point," said Elizabeth.
Chloey, an outgoing and high-spirited girl, is routinely at Riley Children's Hospital. With her upcoming birthday she was curious about how the children she saw regularly in the hospital spent their birthdays.
"She asked me if kids had to live there," said Elizabeth. "I told her yes, some kids are there for weeks, months or maybe even longer."
After hearing the news that some children were forced to stay in the hospital for most holidays, Chloey was thankful to be able to go home after each visit. It was then that Chloey decided it would be best to donate all of her presents to the children who were unable to leave the hospital for long periods of time.
"She was debating between the Humane Society and Riley," explained Elizabeth. "She really wanted to help the kids at Riley, especially since she goes there."
To begin the process of gathering gifts Chloey sent out a colorful handwritten letter asking for donations along with each one of her birthday party invitations. The letter explained the situation and asked for board games, DVDS, books, and various other toys for children.
The greatest gift of all came from a soldier that Chloey adopted two years ago through her Girl Scout troop. The solider, LTC Joan Ruttle King, is currently deployed in Iraq, and when she heard about Chloey's good deed, sent her a $100 Visa gift card.
"I felt really happy that my soldier would do that for me," explained Chloey. "I couldn't have done it without her help of giving me the gift card."
Each person who came to her party, about 20, brought a donation along. In total Chloey ended up with more than 100 items to donate to the hospital. The money she received from King allowed her to buy nearly 100 gifts at Walmart for the children. The total of the gifts was $132, which Chloey paid the extra money out of her own savings.
"My favorite part was just thinking about how happy I would make kids," said Chloey. "I felt really happy and thankful for my friends' help."
It is Chloey's plan to keep donating her gifts to the hospital. Although, she didn't actually get to see the children receive the gifts due to health reasons, she said the satisfaction of giving is enough.