With a heart as big as his hat, Braxton Anderson, a Callaway, Neb. native, has inspired a wave of donations to Tabitha with the claim: “It just feels good to give.”
Armed with his lucky bucket, spunky personality and ability to “hold his own” with anyone he meets, Braxton has proven a little change makes a big difference. His Tabitha Meals on Wheels gift started with 12 quarters, and while he was busy encouraging others to match it, Tabitha Board Members were busy spreading the word.
His donation has grown from $3 to over $16,000 and counting, which equates to over 2,500 meals!
Ten years young, Braxton was born at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) where, for 11 long months, his full-time job was to simply fight for life.
100 surgeries later and despite continuing health challenges, this fourth grader at Callaway Elementary, a cowboy and a singer, has become an accidental philanthropist and an example to all.
Demonstrating the power of one, he’s sharpened his fundraising skills by making an appearance at Tabitha’s main campus, delivering Tabitha Meals on Wheels and gracing the airwaves of 10/11 News and the front page of the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper.
Braxton received an amazing donation from Lincoln’s 100s of Women Who Care. The day he was released from a recent hospital stay, his first stop before heading home was to thank them with a song.
He confidently stated, “I am not going to miss this shindig.”
At Tabitha’s largest annual fundraiser, he also served as a special guest auctioneer and shared a song called “ICU,” inspired by his journey and written by his dad, which resulted in the most successful Tabitha Signature Event to date.
Through it all, he’s endured a couple more emergency stays at UNMC, but you’d never know it.
“For Braxton, age was not an obstacle. Means was not a barrier. Time was not an excuse,” shared Christie Hinrichs, Tabitha President & CEO. “Brax stepped forward where he was, with what he had, as he felt inspired to make a difference—uninhibited by whether it was enough, unselfish with what else it could buy. Braxton did not reach out his hand, filled with 12 quarters, to seek attention—he reached out his hand filled with 12 quarters because it’s what he had, and he knew someone needed it more than him.”
Today, Braxton continues to encourage Tabitha Meals on Wheels donations and has shown that caring is contagious.
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