THE need at Marigold Children’s Home for a toaster was met last Monday, thanks to the benevolence and enterprising spirit of 11-year-old Danielle Nolan.

The grade six St Andrew Preparatory School student held pastry and kisko pop sales at school for one whole week and raised almost $8,000. From that amount, she was able to buy a toaster oven, discounted at $3,200 and repay her mother the $3,000 start-up capital.

With the remaining $800, Danielle plans to buy rattles and other toys for some of the babies at the children’s home.

“I love babies (and helping them) makes me feel good because they are less fortunate than I am and going there makes me see how fortunate I am to have all that I have,” Danielle told the Sunday Observer.

The pre-teen became actively involved with Marigold about three weeks ago when a new regulation at St Andrew Prep made it mandatory for each student to do at least six hours of community service per term. But Danielle has already done almost seven and she doesn’t plan to stop. She goes there once per week and reads to the older children and feeds the babies.

“I read to the bigger children and I coloured with them but I’m kinda more into babies so I spend a lot of time in the nursery… I feed them and put them to sleep and walk them outside,” she said, pride and pleasure obvious on her face.

It was Danielle who suggested to her mother Cheryl Poyser that she buy a toaster for the home.

“When she just started, we were on a tour of the place and we noticed there was no toaster. The manager said they had to put the bread in the oven if the children wanted toast. But Danielle said ‘Mommy we could buy them a toaster’,” Poyser said.

But Danielle’s altruism was quite likely inherited from her mother who told the Sunday Observer that every year at Christmastime, she and her daughter routinely donate outgrown clothes and toys to Marigold. It was for that reason that they chose that particular place of safety for Danielle’s community service.

“I thought she wouldn’t like it,” Poyser confessed, saying she thought the little girl would have been turned off by the children and the environment. She said however that her fears never materialised.

“She was on the floor with the children colouring. I was really very surprised and proud of her to see her handle it that way,” she said.

Danielle is also involved in other extra-curricular activities. She is part of ‘Pure Girl’, a programme put on by the Kingdom Life Advancement Centre in Kingston. The programme promotes positive attitudes in girls and addresses topics like puberty and female sexuality. She is also a member of the Stella Maris Dance group and often has roles in television and print advertisements. Danielle also took part in the opening ceremony of Cricket World Cup 2007 in Trelawny. She was one of the girls who escorted the teams onto the field.

“She is very involved,” her mother said. “My Saturdays are crazy going up and down with her and her activities.”

So how does she balance her time and ensure that her school work isn’t neglected?

“For weekend homework, I do it on Sunday morning then the rest of the day I relax. On Wednesday dance finishes at 6:30 then come home eat, bathe then do my homework,” she said.

But she admitted it has been hard, especially when it was nearing time for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) in March.

“I didn’t watch that much TV because I had a lot of studying to do.”

Poyser said however that one of the things which has made it somewhat easier for Danielle to cope is that she repeated grade six (because of her age) so she already knew what to expect. She hopes she gets to go to Immaculate Conception High, her first choice, so she can be near her cousin Candice.

Some of Danielle’s hobbies are watching TV, playing with her pets, spending time with her friends – Dayna, Chantell and Brittani – and going to the movies. She wants to become a veterinarian or a zoologist.

“She really loves animals. If I follow this child I have a zoo ’round the back,” her mother said.