Guest post by Laurie Young, Canadian Red Cross volunteer in Alberta
It has always been in Tory Dalrymple's nature to give back. On her eighth birthday, she asked her guests to donate to charity instead of bringing a gift.
Since then, the 13-year-old from High River, Alberta, has made giving a part of her life. At Christmas, she puts together shoe boxes containing school supplies and other essentials for needy children overseas. The Grade 8 student doesn’t stop there. In fact, she always budgets for charitable donations. "At home, we have allowance jars and I have a jar for charity," Dalrymple explains.
After learning about the Ebola crisis in school, she set her sights on making a donation to the Red Cross. Recently, Dalrymple went to the Red Cross in High River with a donation of $71.05 in hand. "They need a lot of help over there," she said when asked why she chose the Red Cross.
There was a time when the Dalrymple family was in need of help. During the 2013 Alberta floods, they had four feet of water in their basement and were forced to evacuate their home. Red Cross offered cleaning supplies and a prepaid credit card to begin their recovery. Sharon Dalrymple, Tory’s mother, describes the help they received as a ‘reliable starting base.”
But for the first two and a half days, cleaning supplies were the farthest things from her mind. She was separated from her daughter, Tory, and did not know where she was. Telephone service was down and she had no way to contact her. Tory had the foresight to contact her grandparents to come and get her when she found out about the evacuation.
When Sharon managed to get to an area where she had cell phone reception, her phone lit up with text messages from Tory. “It’s hard to relive,” Sharon recounted.
When asked if the assistance that Red Cross provided to the Dalrymple family impacted Tory’s decision to give to the Red Cross, Sharon proudly said: “It was her own idea. I certainly supported that.” This will not be the last time that her daughter helps others. “It’s good to give back. Lots of people need help,” Tory agreed.
Tory delivers her donation to the
Red Cross manager in High River.