close

Menallen Twp. boy trades birthday presents to give to charity

By Mike Tony for The 2 min read
article image -

Many people understand that charity is a virtue, especially this time of the year.

But few embrace that virtue with great success by their 11th birthday.

That’s what Tucker Golden of Menallen Township did earlier this month by asking others to give to those in need of food instead of himself for his birthday.

In lieu of birthday presents, Golden encouraged his classmates at Hatfield Elementary and others to donate to the All Things Possible community outreach program in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, where the Golden family attends church at Shady Grove Church.

Golden first learned of All Things Possible’s goal of supplying boxes of food to primarily elderly people in northern West Virginia and Fayette County from an organization member in church. It took Golden only a few weeks to collect 254 pounds of pasta and $201 for the organization.

“She said they needed pasta and she showed a pie graph that said elders get less food than kids,” Golden said. “I realized that I’m a kid, so I was going to try as much as I could to help.”

It didn’t take long for that realization to sink in. Golden told his mother Susan about his plan for people to bring him boxes of pasta that he could donate to All Things Possible instead of having a birthday party.

Golden then passed out invitations to his fifth-grade Clark Elementary class asking for pasta donations, and eventually students and faculty throughout the school started bringing in pasta.

All Things Possible focuses on local residents whose Social Security payments or other financial means are only enough to take care of monthly bill payments. The organization provides boxes of food which last a month.

The pasta collected by Golden will last local families roughly three months.

“I was really excited that it was going to last that long,” Golden said. “I thought it’d be one month at the most.”

When Golden’s parents showed him all of the pasta he had collected in the back of his father’s truck on his Dec. 13 birthday, the success of Golden’s efforts hit home.

“He had tears in his eyes and said, ‘Mom, I’m going to feed a lot of people,'” Susan said.

“Sometimes giving is better than getting,” Golden said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today