There is a beautiful teaching from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, that one’s birthday is the day that it was decided that the world could no longer go on without you! But for all too many impoverished kids, their birthdays can pass without much notice, let alone a celebration. One little girl though wanted to change that. Meet 9-year-old Bella Smith who launched “Bella’s Boxes” to provide her classmates and other children with birthday boxes filled with all they need to have a birthday party. Bella fills her “birthday boxes” with cake mix, balloons, icing, sprinkles and distributes them through the school’s Family Resource Center. She raises money through donations to cover the costs and requests for her own birthday that her gifts be things for Bella’s Boxes. But more important and powerful than anything she packs in the boxes is what she truly fills them with, which is her love, concern, empathy, awareness and care. The children who receive it get the message that they are not alone and not forgotten. Because there is a little girl named Bella who is recognizing and celebrating the importance of their birthdays!
Photo Credit: Marlana Evans
