![\"sierra-blair\"](\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/sierra-blair.jpg\")
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This Christmas, sixth grader Sierra Blair discovered that the old adage, \u201cit\u2019s better to give than to receive\u201d is true after all.<\/p>\n
On the eve of turning 11, Sierra told her mother she wanted to give something away for her birthday on December 19.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wasn\u2019t sure what she wanted to give away, so I suggested we give her birthday gifts to the Bilney Lane Children\u2019s Home,\u201d said Sierra\u2019s mom, Tosheena Robinson-Blair. \u201cTo her credit she only thought about it for a minute before she agreed.<\/p>\n
Thus, a one-time connection with the children\u2019s home turned into a more meaningful relationship.<\/p>\n
The Blair\u2019s first encounter with the home was over a year ago when Sierra\u2019s school, Kingsway Academy required rising fifth graders to spend some time at an orphanage as a follow-up to a summer reading requirement of a book about two children living in a foster home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first went to the Bilney Lane Children\u2019s Home I got to play with the children there so I really wanted to give them my birthday gifts,\u201d said Sierra.<\/p>\n
Mrs Robinson-Blair used the money she would have spent on gifts for Sierra to purchase presents for displaced residents of the Bilney Lane Children\u2019s Home.<\/p>\n
The family also asked the six guests attending Sierra\u2019s birthday slumber party to purchase an item for a child at the home rather than a gift for Sierra.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, December 21, the Blairs presented the children with their gifts and the home with a small donation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want Sierra to have a sense of giving. To whom much is given much is expected,\u201d said Mrs Robinson-Blair. \u201cWe went to present to them, but I feel they gave something back to us. To see their little faces light up in anticipation, it was really a joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each child received two gifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you and God bless you,\u201d they chimed afterwards, in the sing-song manner typical of small children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would be sad if I didn\u2019t get anything for Christmas,\u201d said Sierra. \u201cIt made me really happy to see they were happy. I hope they like what we got them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donations typically roll into the home during the Christmas season followed by a drought in the ensuing months.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall donations are big donations to us. What we collect during the Christmas help to keep us later,\u201d said Olivia Major, the home\u2019s administrator. \u201cThe point is we need help \u2013 real help. Whatever you give helps the home and makes our job easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six months ago the Bilney Lane Children\u2019s Home moved out of the home it had occupied for 26 years.<\/p>\n
The small home which caters primarily to mentally challenged children was forced to relocate to a senior citizen\u2019s day care centre in the Yellow Elder community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bilney Lane building was over 200 years old,\u201d explained Ms Major. \u201cIt was a small house on a small property. The area was no longer conducive for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the move, the home has ramped up its year-long efforts to find a more permanent place. Along with Ms Major, Methodist Church Conference Office, the Ministry of Social Services and even a real estate company have all joined in the search.<\/p>\n
Thus far, they\u2019ve had no luck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve found places to rent, but landlords are unwilling to rent to people with children and with us being a children\u2019s home we are finding it almost impossible to locate a place,\u201d Ms Major explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we appreciate our present accommodations, it\u2019s clear to see we need our own home. Ultimately, we need land and funds to build our own place. Whoever hears this, or reads this, whatever they give, no matter how small we will appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Precision Media<\/em><\/span> This Christmas, sixth grader Sierra Blair discovered that the old adage, \u201cit\u2019s better to give than to receive\u201d is true after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":94568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[204,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCaption: Slumber for a purpose<\/em><\/span>
\nThis Christmas, 11-year-old Sierra Blair and her classmates at Kingsway Academy donated gifts to the Bilney Lane Children\u2019s Home for Sierra\u2019s birthday. The girls partied with a purpose at Sierra\u2019s slumber party on Saturday, December 20. From left to right, bottom row: Shania Steino, Sierra Blair, Sheldonique Brown, (top row) Cianna McKenzie, Patrae Cartwright, Mercedes Seymour and Arianne Johnson.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"