A graduation is always a much-awaited event in every student’s life, especially when high school is about to end and one is about to become a college student.
Most high school graduates are into throwing parties at this special moment in their lives. After all, being able to survive those years in high school is definitely something to celebrate.
While typical students would look for ways to achieve the best graduation bash ever, one graduating senior decided she wanted a much more meaningful event to celebrate her achievement.
Leanne Carrasco wanted her high school graduation party to be extra special.
She wanted to have a pizza party so she ordered 95 pizzas. Together with her friends, she prepared various goody bags and they all went to the party venue.
However, the place where the teen held her party was not any typical venue. Leanne and her friends went to a homeless shelter for women and children in Houston, Texas.
“Not a lot of people have the same options as me. It’s not fair,” she explained to CNN. “There are a lot of people who need help. So I give it.”
A pizza party like no other.
Leanne was intent on having a pizza party for the homeless as her graduation bash. The teen was already preparing even a month before the party.
She and her family were used to volunteering in the Star of Hope Family Development Center, but for her graduation pizza party, Leanne brought her friends and classmates to join in volunteering. It was definitely a memorable way to celebrate her achievement, and she was happy to have done it with her family and closest friends.
The young people collected toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand wipes, and deodorant in the month leading to the party. All in all, the group was able to pack their collection into 400 hygiene bags that they planned to hand out to the people in the shelter.
Finally, it’s pizza party time!
On the day of the pizza party, Leanne and her friends excitedly headed to the shelter where people gladly welcomed them with happy smiles.
Scott Arthur, the shelter’s spokesperson, was overjoyed at the teen’s initiative to give back on her special day.
“They had respect for these people. They saw them as peers,” he said. “The residents saw this as a validation that people do care.”
True enough, the people at the shelter were very ecstatic to be receiving such blessings, all because of a girl with a kind heart.
Instead of a graduation party, Waltrip HS Senior Leanne Carrasco asked family and friends to throw a pizza party for the homeless women and children @StarOfHope. They provided and served 95 pizzas and made and distributed 400 “toiletry bags”. pic.twitter.com/Oy0kucI5Yi
— Scott Arthur (@ScottCArthur) June 3, 2019
Scott further recalls the incredible day at the shelter.
“It was a very magical day,” he said. “It gives you a hope for the youth of today. They were able to think of other people.”
The people at the shelter were very grateful for Leanne’s act of kindness that they lined up just to give the young woman a tight hug. It was definitely a day full of love and good intentions.
Leanne’s kindness has made all the difference for the people in the shelter. And she does not want to stop there.
After her high school graduation, Leanne and some of her friends were set to enroll at Briar Cliff University to study nursing. She is simply thankful for what she has and is intent on sharing care and kindness with others thru her chosen profession.
“I think you should always know you’re lucky to have what you have,” she said. “Don’t take that for granted and continue to give.”
Witness this girl’s act of kindness by watching the video below.
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