Burns Middle 6th Grader Gives Back Instead of Getting Presents

One young lady from Owensboro is celebrating her birthday this year in a big way and she's making it about everyone else but herself.

Angel here and scrolling through Facebook a few days ago I came across a post my friend Ginny Layman made about her daughter Shelby.

Shelby is a 6th grader at Burns Middle School and is celebrating turning 12 this week. She wanted to give back in a very special way for her birthday and decided instead of presents for herself she wanted to give to others.

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Ginny had this to say about Shelby's sewing and why she wanted to help the community and give back:

Shelby is a 6th grader at Burns Middle School and currently in home economics aka consumer science and loving it..since she’s the sewing of course! Her dream is to become a fashion designer and attend college in NYC. She just started sewing lessons in February with Mrs. Katrina Kuegal (she is phenomenal and so patient) and is killing it! She’s made a poncho, an “everything” bag, scrunchies, a skirt, and her most recent creation a rag quilt! Her hobbies included: sewing all day every day and spreading the word by making devotional TikToks! She’s my thrifter-Shelby loves a good trip to any Goodwill, garage sale, and/or consignment shop. She takes old clothes and will cut and sew and create a completely new outfit design.
Over the last year or so Shelby has wanted to create blessing bags for those in need. (I swear she has the most giving heart! When I won free Chick-fil-A for a year, she handed out the free meal cards to those in need. Anytime we were at a stop light and someone was standing on the corner with signs, she would say “Hey mom do you have any more cards?” Along with giving clothing donations to borrowed hearts. (A fostering organization that provides clothing for foster families in need.) We weren’t sure where to start. So when my sweet friend Melissa Ezell started helping Travis Owsley with Beverlys Hearty Slice organization handing out pizzas, hygiene bags (that Melissa has been making and the community has been so gracious in donating supplies to help make this possible for her to do), blankets, etc.. she mentioned it to Shelby and it was a no brainer that she wanted to help contribute to this wonder event. The event takes place every other Friday down at Kendall Perkins Park from 5:30-7. The event is in honor of Travis’ mother Beverly, who use to feed those in need around the community when she cooked big meals/bbq. Every 2weeks he’s been able to provided little ceasars pizza and a bottle water per individual since August. They’ve had 3 big community events Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas that impacted a lot of families. Travis plans to make this organization a Non Profit Status to continue to provide for those in need forever. All events are held at Kendall Perkins Park 5:30 to 7pm. Owensboro.org has all event information on there homepage as well.

It's amazing to see that Shelby has the want to help others in need in our community. Big HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout-outs to you young lady. Keep shining your light for others.