Gabby Nicholas, Fifth Grader with Disabilities, Prefers to Help Others

Name: Gabby Nicholas

School: Fifth Grade Student at Simpson Elementary School

Accomplishments:  

• Collected 100 pony tails for Locks of Love a non-profit that provide hair pieces to financially disadvantaged people, younger than 21, who have hair loss due to a health or medical treatment.
• Donated her gifts to Our Little Heaven, a St. Louis-based non-profit that provides medical and psychological treatment in a safe, home setting for young children recovering from abuse, neglect, abandonment or early childhood trauma.
• Collected and sent several hundred items to a U.S. military troop in Iraq. 
• All-Abilities Expo coordinator Bill Knittng honored Nicholas at this year's event. "She is truly an amazing young lady," Knittng said to more than 100 people attending the expo.

Key to Awesomeness: She uses her physical disabilities as a way to help others. She is a member of Simpson Elementary School's Special Friends Club and teaches her fifth grade classmates how to use a Braille writer. She insists her friends donate charities and non-profit organizations. Her actions are inspiring her friends to be charitable and community-minded, said Bill Knittng, All-Abilities Expo coordinator.