Being a kid is, simply put, great. You’ve most likely not got a care in the world and the biggest stressor is figuring out who you’ll sit with at the lunch table. For many children, this is mindset carries them through elementary and middle school. For Hoboken fourth grader Keira, however, there’s more to being a kid than simply having fun. Keira is an avid supporter and fundraiser for The Hoboken Shelter and has recently raised over $1,000 for the shelter during a recent bake sale she held. Keep reading to learn all about how Keira raised over a grand for The Hoboken Shelter.
How She Came to Love the Shelter
Keira is a student at the Elysian Charter School in Hoboken and had been familiar with The Hoboken Shelter since she was in Kindergarten. Her school used to be located right next to the shelter and would often encourage students and parents to participate in Brown Bag Tuesdays, which encouraged families to pack an extra lunch for the shelter.
Being located so close to the shelter on a daily basis, Keira would often wonder and ask questions about the homeless in Hoboken. Her parents took it as an opportunity to teach her that there are many people out there who are less fortunate.
“Keira would see homeless people on the streets of Hoboken on a daily basis and would ask me questions such as, ‘Why don’t they have homes? Why are they sleeping on the ground? Where do they shower? Where do they get food,’” Keira’s mom, Angela, explained.
“It was a great opportunity to impress on her that she is very lucky to have all the things she needs, which are often taken for granted. There are many less fortunate who need help.”
Her First Bake Sale
In 2017, Keira told her parents that she wanted to host a bake sale for the shelter. She proceeded to raise $650.25 by selling baked goods in her home building on Jackson Street. A number of residents baked goods for donations and the building’s management company donated $250 to Keira’s cause.
See More: Volunteering {in Hoboken}: A List of Organizations that Need Your Help
Taking It Up a Notch
This year, Keira took her good efforts + bake sale up a notch. She was able to get support from Black Rail Coffee in Hoboken.
Working with Black Rail Coffee then enabled her to gain additional support from Baking Mama and Choc O Pain to donate baked goods.
^A lady about town — all for a great cause.
^She created signs and hung them around the area, including her building.
Keira’s building management company upped its donation $375, more building residents chipped in to bake goods for donating, and Keira’s friends pitched in to help her sell them. By the time it was all over, Keira had raised $1,018 with every penny of it going to the shelter.
Read More: Where You Can Donate Clothing in Hoboken + Jersey City
Beyond Bake Sales
Although it seems as if Keira is an expert at hosting a bake sale, she does more for the shelter beyond selling baked goods.
In the past four years, according to her parents, she’s volunteered with her friends to serve meals at the shelter, has collected winter clothes at her school to donate {she also gotten support for an uptown CVS which donated $200 worth of hats, socks, and gloves}. She’s held clothing + toiletry donations for the shelter, and she’s even educated her class about how they can help support the shelter too. Even more so, Keira and her parents regularly check-in with the shelter to see what it is in need of.
“We frequently call into the shelter to inform them of her fundraising efforts and to ask them what they currently need,” Angela says. “She also donates her sneakers to Jack Rabbit on Washington Street, [and] her clothes and toys to Our Lady of Grace and various clothing banks around Hoboken.”
If everyone took a page out of her book, the world would be quite the better place. Her efforts to help support those in need in our community are incredibly commendable and we can’t wait to see what she does in the future to help the Mile Square. Well done, Keira!
How have you been giving back to the community lately? Know of someone we should feature?
Let us know in the comments!
