CECILTON — It started with a bus ride home from a camp field trip and has turned two good friends into charitable entrepreneurs with a growing following.
“We were talking … trying to imagine how hard it would be to be homeless,” said Caitlyn Huff.
Huff and her friend Abbi Jackson are selling kits for homemade s’mores and hot chocolate to benefit Deep Roots, Inc., an Earleville-based non profit serving homeless families.
“Abbi was at my house and we were trying to think of ways to help,” Huff, 10, from Cecilton, said of this campaign.
The pair have already sold lemonade, which raised $100 and purchased school supplies for the children that call Clairvaux Farms — the Deep Roots center — home.
With what was in the pantry at the Huff home, the young ladies made 40 bags. The hot chocolate pack holds the drink mix, marshmallows, Hershey kisses and peppermints. In the s’mores bags, the pair packed graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.
“We tried going door to door,” Jackson, 11, from Warwick, said. That covered Huff’s neighborhood. “Then we turned to social media.”
That’s where Mary Cooper, Cecilton’s town administrator, got wind of the efforts of the youngsters. She offered to make the packets available at town hall and posted their availability to the town’s Facebook page.
“I like to share what’s happening locally,” Cooper said, adding she was also aware of the lemonade stand.
Lori Goldsmith, operations director of Deep Roots, said she is amazed by the young ladies.
“They are setting an example for other kids,” Goldsmith said. “It’s just so cool.”
Goldsmith told Huff and Jackson that they were welcome to come to Clairvaux Farm to meet the people they are helping and learn more about Deep Roots.
“This summer we’re going to have a Summer Festival and we want you to come as well,” Goldsmith said.
Huff, a 4th grade student at Chesapeake City Elementary School, doesn’t know when they will sell lemonade next but she is certain of her future.
“I’ve already planned it out,” Huff said. “I’m going to Harvard Medical School and becoming an oncologist and I’m going to find a cure for cancer.”
All Jackson, a 6th grade student at Bohemia Manor Middle School, has decided is she wants to attend University of Delaware.
Among the customers that learned the youngsters were at town hall Saturday was a crew from Cecilton Volunteer Fire Company and Jen Barry, Huff’s art teacher.
“I’ve got to come out and support my students,” Barry said.
Original Article: https://www.cecildaily.com/news/local_news/young-ladies-working-hard-to-help-deep-roots/article_f2c13148-0bed-54f1-be61-7c74bcd1693d.html