MIDDLEVILLE, Mich., (May 7. 2014) — Instead of asking for gifts for her 11th birthday, Allie Wilbur collected items to send to her uncle and other troops serving in Afghanistan. In return, her uncle surprised her Wednesday by flying home for an assembly where the fifth grader was to be honored for paying it forward.
Jeff Wilbur presented his niece with a special plaque at the “Cool to Be Kind” assembly at Page Elementary School, where other students were also recognized for going above and beyond.
“She did an awesome thing,” he said to the crowd. “Not too many people, especially children think outside the box like that. And to do something special for us we go through a lot of stuff over there … we can’t do any of the stuff that we do without the support we get from people like her.”
Allie sent the care package to the troops full of items like books, pens and snacks in March. Three weeks later, she received a flag that had been flown in her honor during a combat mission along with a letter and certificate from a commanding officer.
She started “paying it forward” on her 10th birthday by asking for items for a local animal shelter. She told FOX 17 that she plans to make childhood cancer her next cause.
