Ballico eighth-grader gives goody bags to Emanuel Cancer Center patients

Weekly time to create at Ballico School sparked a plan to give unto others.

“My aunt recently passed from cancer, and I watched her, and I wanted to do something for other people going through what she went through,” said eighth-grader Maggie Alexander.

While others in her class made robots and model cars in the free-choice hour each Wednesday, the 13-year-old planned out what she wanted to include in goody bags.

She settled on tissues, hand sanitizer for those with weakened immune systems, socks for time spent convalescing, lip moisturizer and mints for dry mouths, artwork made from the heart, and a word-search book for long hours spent getting treatments.

“I was thinking of my aunt, of what I would want to give her,” Alexander said.

The woman she called “Auntie Lee” was technically part of her extended family, noted Alexander’s mom, Jennifer Goss. Her daughter also has two great-grandfathers who had cancer, and Goss is a cancer survivor.

“It was amazing the way she thought of all this,” Goss said. “She did it all, all the fundraising. All I did was make the purchases for her,”

A weekend Alexander spent baking pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes and pumpkin cake pops paid off, netting her $500 from teachers and family to buy supplies.

On Wednesday, she delivered 48 care bags to the Emanuel Cancer Center in Turlock, handing them personally to nearly a dozen patients getting intravenous treatments.

“Thank you! This makes us feel loved,” said Karen Agundez of Patterson as the eighth-grader handed her a bag. “You got it just right. The hand sanitizer. The book. Just perfect.”

“People are doing such nice things for us,” said Teri Almendarez of Turlock, receiving her treatment with daughter Briana Maldonado at her side.

A number of women’s groups knit lap blankets and hats for the patients, but gifts from a young person are rare, said Michael Iltis, Emanuel Cancer Center executive director.

“She had this great idea of helping others,” he said, watching her walk among the patients.

After her deliveries, Alexander said her next Wednesday creative project will again focus on cancer patients, finding a way to bring a little joy to a difficult time.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Ballico eighth-grader gives goody bags to Emanuel Cancer Center patients."