Young Londoner celebrates 9th birthday giving back to local women's shelter

It may be her ninth birthday, but Emma Scott will be the one giving the gifts.

The young Londoner had called on the community to donate items and money in support of Anova, a local organization which operates two shelters for women and provides supports for victims of gender-based violence.

The community answered, and put forward roughly $1,000 in cash donations, along with bags of essential items that shelter residents may need, including bottled water, canned food, hygiene products, pillows, blankets, and more.

"I've always wanted to do this, and I've been wanting to do this since I was six," Emma said in the foyer of East Lions Community Centre, where a donation drop-off was held late Sunday morning.

"It's been overwhelming with all of the response that we have," said her mom, Bekah, shortly before more donations began to arrive, including from the city's deputy mayor and the police union. The local Metro store on Clarke Road also contributed.

"Best Buy in north London also donated and lots of friends and family have donated, people that we don't know have shown up and donated. Our front room is very full of donations," Bekah said. 

The original plan was to hand out care packages for London's most vulnerable, but Bekah says they thought it would be easier to give the items to a place those individuals can go to.

"We're still gonna keep some care packages in our car in case we are like just driving along, and then we see homeless people," Emma said.

The London Police Association donated $500 to the campaign. Emma was presented with a cheque during the donation drop-off by Sgt. Gary Bezaire, a director with the union.

"We thought it was a great thing she's doing out here. To see a young lady do something so fabulous for the community… we had to get involved" said Bezaire, who works as a detective in the department's human trafficking unit.

"We definitely, in my particular unit that I work in, we heavily rely on services like ANOVA and the other community groups that help, specifically, victims of human trafficking, (and) support women that are in need. So it's awesome that... I could directly come here and give that donation."

Deputy Mayor and Ward 2 Councillor Shawn Lewis also donated, and arrived at the drop-off carrying several bags of items requested by Emma, as part of the campaign. Lewis said he sees the impact that Anova has in the community every day, as one of their shelters is in his ward.

"Supporting Anova is just something that I would normally do, but also to support Emma. To support this nine-year-old girl who for her birthday chose to help someone else," he said.

"It's important that we support young people who are trying to do good things in our community. This happens on a kind of regular basis. So when it happens, we need to promote it, we need to tell the good stories about our young people."