The Brighter Side

An elementary school student from Georgia recently held a game night at her church with a simple goal: To raise $300 for local nursing home residents. In the end, her efforts brought in more than four times that amount.

The game night was the idea of Kate Hollandsworth, 9, who set out to turn her love of board games into a way to benefit seniors at A.G. Rhodes Health & Rehab, a local nursing home provider with three facilities in the Atlanta metro area.

“It was important to me because I really like to go to nursing homes and spend time with the people who live there and I thought it would be great if I could raise a lot of money for them,” Hollandsworth told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hollandsworth’s event included ice cream, games and a chance for attendees to make cards for A.G. Rhodes residents. She also had a little help from Kids Boost, a local nonprofit group that gives kids $100 and a “coach” to create a charity fundraising project.

In the end the game night far surpassed Hollandsworth’s original fundraising goal, bringing in more than $1,200 that will be used for on- and off-site activities for resident.

“It’s wonderful to see someone as young as Kate do something so thoughtful for our elders,”  Kim Beasley, director of Volunteer Services and Community Engagement at A.G. Rhodes, told the Journal-Constitution. “When children find ways to appreciate the experiences and skills of elders, it helps bridge the generations. Kate demonstrates that there is no age requirement when it comes to making valuable contributions to the community.”