A gift from the heart grows 600-fold with girl's efforts

New Berlin - We don't always see it, but a current of love can flow through people in unexpected ways.

For 10-year-old Sara Folgert, who lives in New Berlin and goes to school at Grace Christian Academy in West Allis, a small outward sign of how much she cares for people has quickly grown in one short year.

Sara said she was shocked by the realization that veterans could come home after fighting for their country and end up homeless on the streets.

Her response to the realization started much more modestly a year ago, when little Sara - with the help of her mother, grandmother and American Legion Auxiliary Unit 416 - decorated and filled 15 gift baskets that went specifically to homeless women veterans.

"We put in girly things that they would like," Sara said, like lotions, shampoos, toothpaste, Crunchies fruit and vegetable snacks and headbands.

Dubbed the Women Veterans Thank You Project, the idea has grown exponentially.

This year, Sara is responsible for a project in which early 600 women veterans will receive gift boxes, carefully decorated and filled with scented potions and other gifts to make a lady's heart happy.

Already, more than 575 baskets have been made and distributed to women veterans in Wisconsin.

Baskets were delivered to Camp American Legion in Tomah, the Union Grove V.A. Hospital, two local women's shelters, and the Clement J. Zablocki Medical Center.

Sara helped present the baskets to the recovering veterans in their hospital beds or sitting in wheelchairs and they were bowled over at the love coming at them from out of the blue.

"They were very, very surprised," she said. "They said thank-you over and over."

The idea could grow even more in the future - to as many as 1,400 more baskets. Sara's goal is to reach each female veteran in the Greater Milwaukee Area.

The idea started to ferment even before last year. When Sara saw her family giving gifts one Christmas, she wondered: "Does anyone give gifts to veterans?"

She thought especially of female veterans, because while she often saw male veterans at auxiliary functions, she didn't encounter many women.

The worried child asked her grandmother whether anyone lets them know they are not forgotten.

"They are keeping us a safe and free country and I appreciate that a lot," Sara said.

Grace Academy Administrator Cindi Hummitzsch said Sara's giving heart and determined energy are a model for everyone.

"She's an example of what one small child can do," Hummitzsch said.