Yesterday as I was driving back to my home from physical therapy with my 4 year old daughter,  we passed by a large parking lot on the corner of 2 major roads that, whenever there's a relief effort, or fund raiser, etc... people set up shop there and take donations. This time it was my town's police and fire departments taking donations of any kind for Hurricane Katrina relief. They had a pumper truck out there with its ladder fully extended and an American flag proudly waving from the top.  Of course, my 4 year old noticed this a mile away while we're driving down the road.
     She starts asking me why the fire truck is just sitting there with its ladder up when there's no fire. I explained what was going on. She is aware of the hurricane. I watched about it when it was going on and afterwards, so she knows what has happened (in whatever sense a 4 year old can grasp that concept. Geez - I'm still having a hard time grasping that it actually happened). I didn't watch so much around her after the first 2 days until it got crazy and they news coverage grew more harrowing.
     After I explain, she grows very quiet for about a half a mile (trust me - for her, that's a significant amount of time to be quiet.....lol), then she says, "Mom, when I get home, I want to pick out some stuffed animals to donate to Hurricane Katrina. Probably some kids lost their teddy bears in the flood, and I have a lot of stuffed animals I don't play with."
     I was floored! And, sure enough, when we got home, the first thing she did was go into her "zoo" (stuffed animal keeper - it's a LIFESAVER!) and picked out 3 and brought them into the other room. Then she asked me to help her pick out more after dinner. So we did, and we (per her request) drove up to that parking lot and donated her animals along with some other bags of clothes we were saving for donation. Needless to say, the firefighters were melted and kept telling her how proud of her they were and that a lot of kids would be so much happier because she did this.
On the way home - she told me , "The next thing we can donate are my old clothes. Those are next!".

Can you tell I'm gushing with pride? My little girl has the biggest heart and always wants to help out - no matter what the cause. Knowing some kids didn't have any toys or clothes made her sad. It made her so happy to know that she helped some other kids. Now she wants to know when the truck is going down there - because it can't get there fast enough!
Thanks for letting me show off a bit. I just couldn't help myself!