Teenager raises $6,000 for charity

On the day after Easter, Gabi Cousins, 14, delivered more than $6,000 worth of products to Bethlehem Inn of Waseca and Fresh Start of Mankato. Bethlehem Inn is a homeless shelter which takes in women and children. Fresh Start is an organization which helps people as they transition out of homelessness and take up residence in a new setting; it serves a wide area including all of Waseca County.

 

For five years now, Gabi, daughter of Jen and Matt Cousins of Janesville, has made it her Lenten season faith in action project to share information about a charity and encourage the members of her home church, St. Ann’s Parish in Janesville, to donate. This year, she expanded her efforts, also encouraging the members of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in St. Clair, and All Saints in Madison Lake. This year and last, the selected charities have been Bethlehem Inn and Fresh Start.

 

She says encouraging and collecting the donations took only a few hours of effort each week, and her dedication to the project was strengthened by the generous response she saw from church members.

 

She mentions her biggest challenge was preparing and then giving her speech–three times–in front of the congregations. “Most-needed” lists for both organizations were made available. After that, she says, it took only a few on-going steps each week to keep the momentum going.

 

Her project was mentioned in each week’s church bulletin, and a “thermometer” display at the back of each church indicated the general value of gifts given. She and her family members would collect donations–which included bulky items like large containers of toilet paper, paper towels, and disposable diapers–and warehouse them in an available space at St. Ann’s.

 

Gabi had also offered that, for people who wished to donate money, she would “do the shopping for them.” This meant now and then she and family members would visit stores, purchase items and cart carloads of them back to the storage area.

 

After the six weeks of Lent had ended, the generosity of church members had been so extensive that she, her brother Shea, and her grandparents Ann and Bob Carda needed two vehicles and many trips carrying items in and out to deliver everything that had been collected to Fresh Start, and then a second time to Bethlehem Inn.

 

“I’m speechless,” commented Bethlehem Inn’s program director, Sue McIntosh, indicating a whole room filled with Gabi’s donation of personal care items and laundry and cleaning supplies. Commenting that the items would be of immeasurable assistance to the women and families currently rebuilding their lives while staying at Bethlehem Inn, she suggested their hearts would also be lifted by the message of empathy and support the gifts bring with them.

 

“It’s actions like yours,” she said to Gabi, “that will change the world.”

 

Gabi suggested anyone could make a similar impact by choosing a cause, putting together a plan, and carrying out a few steps to follow through. “It didn’t take that much time,” she repeated, “and people were really happy to give.”

 

In fact, she went on to say, the smiles and words of thanks people shared with her as they delivered their donations were one of the best parts of the project for her, and are much of the reason she has continued with the project for five years.

 

Ann Carda, Gabi’s grandmother, complimented Gabi’s organization skills, but went on to suggest nearly anyone could make a similar impact simply by choosing a project and taking the time to follow through. Mentioning that rising prices and shifting social circumstances are putting more and more people at risk of homelessness.

 

“If we have a crisis of some type, it could be any of us needing this kind of help,” said Carda. “We need to help, because it makes such a difference for people who suddenly lose things they used to be able to rely on.”