Community Corner
Whiz Kid: Madison Hurt
Just three weeks before Christmas, 11-year-old Madison Hurt overheard a classmate at Goddard Middle say that her family would not be celebrating this year because they were losing their home to the bank. "Madison's Christmas Wish" came ne
NAME: Madison Hurt, 11 years old
SCHOOL: Goddard Middle School (6th Grade)
ACCOMPLISHMENT: While maintaining a 4.0 GPA at GMS, Hurt runs her own non-profit and inspires her peers to pay it forward (without expecting something in return).
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KEY TO AWESOMENESS: Madison Hurt has always been taught that it’s better to give than to receive, and she took that to a whole new level this past Christmas. Just three weeks before the holiday, she overheard a classmate at GMS say that her family would not be celebrating this year because they were losing their home to the bank.
“Madison came home from school and talked to me,” her mother, Patty Hurt, told Patch, “and said, ‘I am a very lucky child. I always have a wonderful Christmas. I have never gone without, and this year, Mom, I do not want anything except to make sure that no child in my community and surrounding areas goes without something for Christmas.’”
Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Thus began “Madison’s Christmas Wish." Hurt started working the phones, contacting local businesses to bring in donation boxes, met with her principal to get GMS involved, made posters, signs and wrapped drop-off boxes. She contacted the pediatric ward at City of Hope to see what she could do to help there too, and in three weeks, with the help of the Glendora community, her “Christmas Wish” came true. The newly-founded non-profit was able to donate over 600 toys and pajamas to help her community and City of Hope.
Hurt will continue to collect items for her charity throughout the year and hopes to go over the millennium mark in donations for Christmas 2011. Madison also helps run her sister’s charity, “Alexa’s Closet," which collects new and gently-worn prom dresses for those in need.
If you would like to help “Madison’s Christmas Wish” out with a toy, a pair of pajamas or even a prom dress for "Alexa's Closet," you can contact call 626-963-4342.
