Sweet 11-Year-Old Girl Visits Nursing Homes To Grant Wishes of Residents
Here’s a gem of a story that started out to be about something else entirely. It involves a little girl named Ruby, and it’s warming hearts all across social media.
Eleven-year-old Ruby Kate Chitsey has a mother named Amanda. Mom works as a nurse in Harrison, Arkansas.
As part of Amanda’s job, she travels to various nursing homes in the area. Ruby sometimes enjoys tagging along.
One day, Ruby started sitting down with a few different residents. She took out a notepad, and asked them a question.
Specifically, Ruby wanted to know what each individual might wish for if they could choose three things. “I don’t think she had an intention, really,” Amanda told CBS News.
But Ruby was pretty convinced she already knew the answers. “I thought people would say money, houses, a Lamborghini,” she said.
Here’s where the tale takes an interesting turn, because almost every respondent ended up mentioning basic provisions like comfortable shoes, electric razors and favorite snacks — especially Vienna sausages.
“Like, that’s all they wanted. And I really decided that I needed to do something,” Ruby said.
So this compassionate pre-teen followed through. She started a charity, aptly named “Three Wishes for Ruby’s Residents.”
Ruby and her mother also started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover expenses. It describes Ruby as “an 11-year-old raising money to help thousands of nursing home patients who are low on family and low on funds.”
The summary also explains that a woman named Pearl inspired much of the project.
“One day as my mom and I were leaving the nursing home, a patient named Pearl was glued to the exit doors staring for a long time at something,” Ruby said on her GoFundMe page.
What had captured Pearl’s rapt attention? Her 12-year-old dog, who had been visiting briefly. Pearl didn’t know when she’d see her beloved pooch again.
Ruby realized that the pet visits, and most of the other “extras” these folks were requesting, wouldn’t cost much money. But according to her GoFundMe page, most residents have a meager monthly allotment that doesn’t stretch too far.
So now, as part of her “Three Wishes” initiative, Ruby goes room-to-room whenever she accompanies her mom. She jots down these humble requests, then does her best to deliver them.
“These extras are the things that make life sweeter,” Ruby said to CBS News. And she herself is absolutely enriched in return.
“It really lifts you, it really does,” Ruby said.
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