NICE Person of the Week: Emma Jane Coe

Time for another NICE Person of the Week! I should just make this a Wednesday feature from now on. :) Obviously my ambitions of Tuesday are a little outside my reach!

Today's NICE Person comes from one of my favorite stationery designers, Pumpkin Petunia, better known as Jo-Ann Coe. Jo-Ann nominated her 7-year-old daughter, Emma Jane.

What makes Emma Jane so NICE:

Emma Jane is a girl who is always willing to help. Always. She shows compassion and empathy for people, both children and adults, on a daily basis. Whether it just be a kind word to a friend, an offer to help her brother with a chore so he's not late for baseball practice or noticing that an elderly neighbor's paper was delivered and bringing it to the door for her because she knows it's hard for the older woman to bend down and pick it up. I know this sounds like a mother overly enthusiastic about her child, but this really is a true description of who Emma Jane is. She is a kind heart.

I recently blogged about an exchange that I had with Emma Jane recently. I think this gives a glimpse into the kind heart of my little girl.

Emma Jane is very much a girly girl. She loves all things pretty and stylish and she really loves dolls. Specifically, American Girl dolls. She loves the books and the outfits, primping their hair, accessorizing - everything about them. Lucky for her, she has two aunties who are more than willing to indulge this love affair with all things American Girl. A day or two after Christmas, Emma Jane was playing with her newest American Girl doll and all of her accompanying accessories when I sat down next to her to take a peek at the new stuff.

As I was fussing with the new doll, Emma Jane's face changed. She didn't quite look sad, but I couldn't identify the expression so I asked her what was up. At first she resisted answering, but then she said that she felt a little guilty for having so many American Girl dolls when some children do not have any. This, of course, prompted a discussion about how she is definitely very lucky for all the things that she has, but she doesn't need to feel guilty that the people who love her take great joy in buying her presents sometimes and as long as she doesn't expect or demand things, she has nothing to feel badly about. She was very happy to hear that she could play guilt-free, but she still had that look. She then said that she would like to buy an American Girl doll for a little girl that was not lucky enough to afford one and her face immediately brightened.

So, the plan is that she has 10 months to save $100 (not the exact amount, but I wanted her to be able to do the math on her own) and by November 1st she will have enough to buy a doll for a girl in need. We now have a decorated jar on our kitchen counter that already contains about $30. Seems that my girl is not only a saver, but also quite the fundraiser as well. We have told her that most of the money needs to be saved by her, but if family members want to make small donations, that is fine too. Fueled by this early success, she has now set her sights on buying dolls for two little girls!

It has been two months since Emma Jane started her savings for an American Girl Doll. She has done so well that we have refined her plan. She will donate one doll, with some extra accessories to Birthday Wishes some time this summer. This is an organization that provides Birthday Parties to children in shelters. She does not know this yet, but I am going to pitch in and donate to entire party. Then come Christmas, she will purchase another doll to the Home for Little Wanderers who matches donors with children who have specific wishes for Christmas. This way the child who receives the American Girl doll will have asked for a doll for Christmas. Emma Jane and I have talked about how the girls who receive the AG doll will likely not have asked for an American Girl doll specifically because owning one is so far out of there frame of reference that they likely would never dare to dream of such a doll. I was going to suggest that maybe we buy several less expensive dolls to spread the joy to more children, but I never did suggest that. It was Emma Jane's response that made me stick to the original plan.

When I mentioned that the girl that receives the doll would likely never dare to dream of receiving one, Emma Jane rolled her eyes as a 7 year-old girl will do and said, "Mommy, that's why I want to buy her one!" I guess you can't argue with that.

Well, like mother like daughter! Obviously it seems like Emma Jane is learning NICE from the best of them! Way to go! To have the desire to help others at such a young age is remarkable. Jo-Ann, you'll have to give us the update as the project goes on! I know Emma Jane is going to do more wonderful things that we need to hear about.

Do you have someone that you'd like to nominate as the NICE Person of the Week? If so, CLICK HERE for more details.