This afternoon, we were overwhelmed by a remarkable young woman, Alyssa Maitoza, a 17 year-old Dartmouth High Senior, GiftsToGive Volunteer and this year’s Miss Massachusetts’ Outstanding Teen. With the help of her father and brother she delivered a ton of terrific stuff, lots of it brand new!
Every once in-a-while we see a young person that is truly a bright and shining light. A light so bright we see the true power of giving and service! Alyssa inspires even us and we’re in the inspire business!
We could tell the rest of the story, but it’s much better coming from Alyssa herself. Here is what she emailed us: “As Miss Massachusetts’ Outstanding Teen I’m participating in Miss America’s Outstanding Teen’s initiative to “Be Selfless” for Make A Difference Day on October 22nd! The idea of this initiative is to encourage as many people as possible to give back to our communities. The way I chose to give back was organizing a toy/book drive at my dance studio, and at my high school to provide Gifts to Give with items to donate to families and children in need. I also received donations from members of the community who wanted to partake in this meaningful event. After just 3 weeks, I received an overwhelming amount of donations. It is so important to me to give back to the community that has given me so much, and I’m so grateful to you for founding an organization like Gifts to Give which gives students like me and people all over the south coast an opportunity to give back and volunteer for an amazing cause.” Thank you, Alyssa Maitoza