Usually for your birthday, the focus is all on you. But, instead, a little girl with a big heart is giving back to the community for her seventh birthday.
A kid's favorite toy can make their eyes light up with joy. Six-year-old Sophia Coy wants other kids to have that same feeling.
"Instead of a birthday, I want to give sick kids toys because I want them to feel better,” Sophia said.
She's collecting toys to donate to kids at Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa. She knows the hospital well because she spent a lot of time there as a baby.
"When she was 2-weeks-old is when it first started, and we found her in her crib, and she was not breathing,” said Krystyna Coy, Sophia’s mother.
After that, her mother explained Sophia was frequently in and out of the hospital for seizures and breathing problems.
"It was really rough because there're so many monitors, and they're so little that it's just like they're covered in monitors,” Coy said.
Although Sophia can't cure children’s sicknesses, she can help put a smile on their faces.
She's hoping the community will also help.
"I think it's very selfless and very big for a 6-year-old,” Coy said.
It’s a lesson in kindness that Sophia has already learned and can teach others.
So far, the donations have come from Sophia’s family and friends, but they could use some more help. They plan to deliver the toys to the hospital on March 4.
If you’d like to help, Coy says she can be reached by email at krystyna_coy@yahoo.com.
