This is the story of Ruby Kate, an 11 year old raising money to help thousands of nursing home patients who are low on family and low on funds.
Three Wishes for Ruby’s Residents
The government funds over half of nursing home patients in the US. These patients are allotted $40 cash/month for ‘extras’ (anything not covered under room and board). A haircut is ‘extra.’ Taking care of your dog is ‘extra’. If these patients don’t have family that can cover the gaps, they go without. Ruby Kate is here to tell you that these things are not ‘extra’. She says, “these extras are the things that make life sweeter.”
Ruby Kate raises money help these patients get more ‘extras’ than their $40 dollars can buy
This is the heartwarming story of Ruby Kate, an 11-year-old raising money to help thousands of nursing home patients who are low on family and low on funds.
Ruby Kate explains, "One day as my mom and I were leaving the nursing home, a patient named Pearl was glued to the exit doors staring for a long time at something. I figured whatever it was must be pretty exciting because I hadn’t seen anything exciting all day. So I hurried to catch up to her before whatever this was disappeared. I thought maybe it was a baby bird? A wreck in the parking lot? Ambulance?
I get up there and there is a normal dog being led out on a leash to a car by a normal lady. That was it! Boring. I asked her what was going on and she said that was her dog of 12ish years. The dog had come to visit for the day and she was staring at the door because she didn’t know the next time she would see her dog again…
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“I have a notebook filled with their wishes,”
“Pearl’s face was so sad,” said Ruby Kate. “I thought of all the things in this world Pearl could have, she would probably just ask for more visits with her dog. I know it costs $12 for a pet sitter/visit. I’m eleven and I have enough money saved in my piggy bank to get Pearl a few visits with her dog.
This moment led to my project of “THREE WISHES FOR RUBY’S RESIDENTS” and I started to raise money help these patients get more ‘extras’ than their $40 dollars can buy.
This summer Ruby Kate took a notebook to local nursing homes and asked the residents this question:
“If I could bring you 3 things in the whole world, what would those be?”
“I have a notebook filled with their wishes. I hope you will help me make them come true”, says the 11-year-Old
To read more wishes from Ruby Kate’s visits to residential homes, or how you can help, click HERE or you can follow Three Wishes for Ruby’s Residents on Facebook.
Make a donation at ‘Three Wishes for Ruby's Residents‘ GoFundMe page
“5$ is fantastic! Everything helps. 5$ buys a lot of pet food!”