Newton Falls – Cloey Essa is all girl. She loves wearing dresses and her pageant crown; however, there’s more to this 7-year-old first grader.
Cloey is “Little Miss Buckeye Tourism”. She and her mom decided to use the title to give back where they can. One way they are doing this is making gift boxes for soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.
Chrystal Paszkowski, Cloey’s mom says that they are very lucky to be able to help the soldiers to feel the love and support from even the smallest of children, and to help people less fortunate than they are.
Cloey is trying to gather donations of cash and monetary items to make care packages for troops overseas. It’s something that hits close to home. Her dad has been deployed four times.
Her father, James Anthony of the 583rd Police Detachment out of Austintown says “It’s nice getting a box like this for a unit. It was like Christmas every time we got one, like Christmas or your birthday. Always something new and exciting.”
The giving doesn’t stop here. Cloey has also raised $330 for homeless kids by holding a bake sale on October 16th at Lakers Food Mart in Lake Milton. Her parents say they couldn’t be more proud of Cloey and all that she wants to do to help the community and also to show her love and support for the brave men and women who fight for our freedom everyday.
Cloey has been–and wants to continue to be–a role model for everyone. Cloey’s mom Chrystal says “It helps everyone to understand, and appreciate that just because she’s small, that doesn’t mean she can’t do things that older people can do.
On Saturday, November 13th Cloey Essa, “Little Miss Buckeye Tourism”, will be having a meet and greet at Newton Falls Brew Basket from 8 – 11 a.m. While there, she will be collecting donations for the gift boxes, and will continue to collect items and cash donations until November 30.
In addition, if anyone has a family member or friend that is deployed overseas, and has the correct address, Cloey will personally send them a box of “goodies.”
Listed below is a partial list of some items needed or wanted for these boxes:
Hard candy, cookies and candy bars, small notebooks and ink pens, deodorant, shampoo & body wash, playing cards, toothbrushes & toothpaste, gum, pretzels , mints and $10 phone cards.
There are more items you can purchase which could be boxed and shipped. Cash is also needed to defray shipping cost on these boxes — all donations are very much appreciated.
