Doing unto others

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The “Golden Rule,” has been around for ages, but with busy lives and rough financial times, it can be easy to forgo dropping change into the Salvation Army kettle or buying a hamburger for the homeless man digging through the trash.

Sometimes it takes the wisdom of a child to help adults with perspective. Take 7-year-old Lilly Drasin, for example.

She decided to help local homeless families enjoy the holiday season more. So, Drasin put out a sign in front of her house which read, “Collecting money for homeless families for Christmas,” and spent the day asking for donations. All in all, the Prune Hill Elementary School first-grader and her friend collected $52.

“The idea just kind of came to me,” she said. “I wanted to help people out. I wanted them to have what I have.”

After collecting the money, Drasin donated it to the Salvation Army of Camas-Washougal.

“They were pretty happy,” she said. “And it felt really good. I want to do it every year.”

Her parents, Dave and Lara Drasin, were pleased by their daughter’s efforts.

“I’m pretty proud of her,” Lara Drasin said. “All the time we’ve spent trying to instill good values paid off.”

Dave Drasin agreed.

“I thought it was neat because my wife has taken her out and done Meals on Wheels in the past, so it was nice she has taken it to heart,” he said. “Her awareness of the homeless is more than what I would have realized as a 7-year-old.”

Drasin added that the money his daughter donated would go to feed four families who otherwise would not have had a Christmas dinner.

“It was pretty neat that she wanted to give money away to someone else,” he said.