Twelve-year-old Amber Coffman of Glen Burnie, Maryland, doesn't have a lot of family, money or material goods. What she does have is an abundance of courage and compassion. The only child of a single, working mom who herself has no family, Amber is an honor-roll student who's been helping the homeless since she was 8. Amber did odd jobs as a volunteer at a shelter until lack of gas money prevented her mother from driving her there. Amber found an organization closer to home where she volunteered every weekend to help make sandwiches.
After doing a book report on Mother Theresa, Amber decided to start a new group that would be exclusively for kids who wanted to help the homeless. Happy Helpers for the Homeless meets every Saturday at Amber's apartment to make 400 bag lunches. Amber recruits the kids, organizes the packing and delivers the bags personally to hungry street people. At her twelfth birthday party, the guests were all homeless people who joined Amber for dinner and received gifts from her. She plans to repeat the party for her thirteenth birthday.
Amber also is:
:a fire prevention volunteer, giving out hundreds of prevention tip-sheets, working in an information booth, and going to a major fire to comfort the children who were affected;
:an adopt-a-grandparent volunteer;
:a reader in the Multiple Sclerosis Society's read-a-thon;
:a pal to a nursing home resident;
:the organizer of recycling drives;
:a helper in food drives;
:a regular volunteer for the National Kidney Foundation;
:a volunteer in a Sunday school classroom for toddlers;
:a Special Olympics volunteer;
:a stand-up comic, performing at community events;
:a fifth year Girl Scout.
She's also worked on three other programs: Harvest for the Hungry, Kids Helping Kids and Right to Read; and Amber has never complained about the kids who don't understand her interests, about the sometimes unpredictable behavior of street people she's bringing food to, or about going without necessities herself to make all this possible.
Keep up with Amber Coffman's work at http://www.happyhelpersforthehomeless.com/