2011 Allen & Allen Hometown Hero Ryleigh Katstra Featured on CBS 19 Beth on the Bright Side

Beth on the Bright Side: Hometown Hero Inspiration comes in all sizes.

For this week’s Beth on the Bright Side, CBS19’s Beth Duffy introduces an eight-year-old girl who lives in Charlottesville and is doing her part to make the world a better place.

Author: Beth Duffy
Source: Newsplex CBS 19
http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Beth_on_the_Bright_Side_Hometown_Hero_128045023.html
Email Address: beth.duffy@newsplex.com

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Beth on the Bright Side: Hometown Hero

August 18, 2011

Inspiration comes in all sizes. For this week’s Beth on the Bright Side, CBS19’s Beth Duffy introduces an eight-year-old girl who lives in Charlottesville and is doing her part to make the world a better place.

Every year the law firm Allen and Allen selects 50 hometown heroes in Richmond and Charlottesville to honor what the company calls acts of kindness.

Ryleigh Katstra is one of the kindest children you will ever meet. She collects food for the hungry.

“I know that I’m helping people that don’t have as much as I do,” said Katstra.

“I believe she has raised 3,300 pounds of food and so that feeds approximately 2,570 people. What an amazing thing for a young lady who is eight years old now to do,” said Gayle Bragg, of Allen and Allen.

For over a year, Katstra has been collecting food in her neighborhood, church, and her school.

“She just loves to give and loves to help others. So and I think coming in here to the food bank has really made an impression on all three of my children. How much is here. But also how much food they actually need,” she said Michelle Katstra, Ryleigh’s Mother.

She says her daughter is relentless, getting her friends involved and constantly gathering food.

“I think I’m going to keep collecting food,” said Katstra.

Allen and Allen representatives tell CBS19 that Ryleigh is the youngest hero they have ever honored.

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http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Beth_on_the_Bright_Side_Hometown_Hero_128045023.html