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BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Ten-year-old opts for donations to the Salvation Army instead of gifts

Niara Simmons asked her friends to donate canned food to the Salvation Army instead of buying her presents for her tenth birthday.

Christmas hampers at the Salvation Army will be a little fuller this year thanks to a selfless offer from ten-year-old Niara Simmons.Niara told her friends not to give her any birthday presents as she turned ten last month, asking them to help those less fortunate than herself by making donations to the charity instead.“I decided to get canned food instead of presents because, when I watched on the news all of the adults and children who do not have as much food as we do, I felt bad for them,” said Niara, the daughter of Attorney General Kim Wilson.“On my birthday, I e-mailed my friends and told them that instead of presents I would like canned food so that I could deliver it to the Salvation Army.“The Salvation Army is going to give the canned food to some people in Bermuda that don’t get to eat as much as we get to eat.”Lionel Cann, a community service worker with the Salvation Army, wrote to Niara: “We express our thank you for the generous gift of canned food to be used in our Christmas hampers to those in need.“You are to be commended for thinking of others, on the occasion of your birthday, when it would have been so easy to think of yourself. You thought of those who might not have much this year at Christmas. Your donation will go a long way to assisting the Salvation Army and to those in need.”