The first visits to ask local business owners for donations took a special effort from an 11-year-old who is shy. But Alexandra Westcott had a good reason to get a little help for Pasco County’s foster children.
“I felt bad for the kids who didn’t have much in life,” she said. “I wanted to help by allowing people to donate things.”
The sixth-grader at Imagine School of Land O’ Lakes knows what it means to not have a home. Her parents, Tara and Rick Westcott, adopted her from China when she was a 15-month-old toddler.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
“I think she wanted to give back because she feels fortunate to have a forever home,” her mother said.
So, Alexandra spearheaded a clothing drive, from May 1 through May 12, to benefit Eckerd Raising Hope.
Eckerd is a national nonprofit organization that provides assistance and resources to more than 18,500 children and families annually.
The organization’s Raising Hope program operates “Rooms of Hope” where foster children and their caregivers in the Tampa Bay community can shop free of charge. They fill their carts with new or slightly used clothes, toiletries, baby items, school supplies, duffel bags and comfort items such as blankets and stuffed animals.
Boxes of donated items were picked up at the school on May 18. The donations included several boxes of infant formula provided by a local doctor. Several National Junior Honor Society students, including Alexandra, helped load the goods into a van for delivery.
Alexandra learned about Eckerd Raising Hope while talking with her mother about her parents’ experience taking foster parenting classes.
The Westcotts had tried for a long time to adopt. A parent in one of the classes told them she was adopting a child from China and suggested the Westcotts do the same.
Tara Westcott also remembered information about the Eckerd charity. “We had learned foster children who were taken out of their home would take all their belongings in a garbage bag,” she said.
The nonprofit seemed a good project for Alexandra who is a member of the National Junior Honor Society. Honor students are challenged to be active in school activities and in their community. This is the first year Imagine has sponsored an honor society chapter.
Imagine principal Aimee Williams quickly gave permission for Alexandra to enlist students in grades six through eight for the project.
About 120 students from Imagine brought in donated items.
“Each of our grade levels has to do something,” Williams said. “We would rather kids pick the project than us. I would hope they could learn they can be decision makers,” the principal said.
Alexandra, who will turn age 12 in June, has volunteered in the community before, including performances with other students at the Ronald McDonald House.
“This is her first really big thing,” her mother said.
She was up to the task.
She explained in detail to classmates what the project was and how it would operate. Kelly Rossi, who is the charity’s director, recalled that she didn’t have to add much to Alexandra’s presentation.
“It was definitely my first event with a student this young,” Rossi said. “But I really gave her the tools, and she did all this. She’s so mature.”
Eckerd Raising Hope serves about 200 to 225 children a month at each of three locations in Trinity, Dade City and Largo. There are about 6,000 foster children in the Tampa Bay area.
Rossi said the supplies collected from Alexandra would be given to children in Pasco.
“Often times they come with nothing. The state doesn’t fund those extra things,” Rossi said. “I can’t have them going to school without shoes and clothes.”
Alexandra created a flier with a personal essay on why she wanted to help foster children. Knowing that children often left their homes with their clothes in garbage bags “really pulled at my heart,” she wrote. New duffel bags would help them “keep their dignity at a very hard time of their lives.”
She also told her mother she wanted to collect stuffed animals, or plush toys, as handouts because she knew how frightened the foster children would be. At Rossi’s suggestion, she asked donors to shop at Dollar Tree to maximize the number of items they could give. From a list provided by Rossi, Alexandra also put together a gift set of Dollar Tree items including toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorants, shampoos, African-American hair products and hairbrushes.
Toiletries especially are needed items, Rossi said.
Alexandra’s drive and determination did not surprise sixth- grade science teacher Adrian Denson, who serves as her advisor.
“She is definitely diligent,” he said. “She’s a really good kid.”
Rick Westcott said he and his wife drove their daughter to local businesses but left everything else up to her.
“She personally has gone in and asked for donations,” he said. “If a child is going to volunteer, they should do the work and not let parents do it for them,” he added.
The best thing about the project was seeing people give so much, Alexandra said.
And, she isn’t finished yet.
Alexandra dances five nights a week at Contempo School of Dance in Lutz. Owners and students there are gearing up for more donations to Eckerd Raising Hope.
For information about Eckerd Raising Hope visit Eckerd.org, or call (855) 450-4673.
Published May 27, 2015
