Molly hands toys to Ukrainian orphans

8:20am Thursday 24th April 2008

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A girl from Black Hill, in Keighley, has shown how even a six-year-old can make a positive difference to the world.

Early this year, Molly Nolan donated some of her own new Christmas toys to an orphanage in Vinogradiv, in Ukraine.

She said she thought the children there probably did not have any toys, so would be happy to use things she was unlikely to play with.

She has since been rewarded with a set of Russian dolls as a token of the orphanage's gratitude.

Molly made her generous gesture after listening to a Christmas Day talk delivered by Andrew McVeigh of Take Hope, a Denholme-based charity.

Mr McVeigh spoke to the children of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, in Haworth, about the Perechrysta Orphanage, in Ukraine.

He told them of his last trip to this part of Eastern Europe and about how children there were even happy to receive a bar of soap.

Molly, who attends St Anne's Primary School, in Keighley, was inspired to help out by one of his photographs of a smiling Ukrainian boy holding up two bars of soap.

She put aside some of her own Christmas presents and brought them into church the next week.

Molly's mother, Eileen, said: "Andrew was very pleased with Molly and asked her to make a plea to the other children in our parish.

"So a couple of weeks later she stood at the altar with her dad and asked if there were any children who had extra toys, in good working order, that they could donate to these poor children in the orphanage.

"The next week there was a huge response and young and old children brought presents."

Mr McVeigh returned to the Ukraine just after Easter with Haworth parish priest Father Ben Griffiths to organise the next convoy of goods.

On their return they brought back the babooshka dolls and presented them to Molly, at Mass, on Sunday.

Eileen said: "Molly was so delighted with the gift that she brought it into school the next day to do a "show and tell".

"We are very proud of her and grateful to Andrew and Father Ben for recognising her efforts and showing all of us that even a small six-year-old girl can make a big difference."