MONTREAL – Hannah Ouellette-Schiess isn’t your typical teenager, and today isn’t your typical birthday.
This Sunday is her 14th birthday and instead of hanging out with friends, Hannah is handing out care packages to the homeless in downtown Montreal.
“I didn’t want to receive gifts for my birthday, I wanted to give instead,” Hannah told Global News.
She says she was inspired to do something after repeatedly seeing homeless people out on the streets in -20 C weather.
“It’s not fair to them,” she said. “They once had a home, a job, a loving family and then it was stripped away from them.”
On family excursions to downtown Montreal, she also noticed how down the people she encountered seemed to be and she wanted to change that.
Hannah put together an action plan to carry out her good deed. This involved writing a letter to the Première Moisson bakery, asking them for some left-over bread.
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“I know that at the end of every day I think they put out the left over bread for people to take,” she explained. “I was planning on doing that then wrapping them up somehow to keep the bread good and not stale.”
Hannah also gathered some used school bags that were still in good shape and even purchased some new ones so the homeless would have somewhere to keep their possessions.
She also wanted the bags to stash a few surprises inside them, like mitts, scarves and hats.
When asked about her kind actions, Hannah seemed a little apologetic and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
“This is a little project,” she said. “I want to help them out and give them hope for the future.”
Hannah also knows that helping others feels good.
“It feels nice cause you get to see them smile,” she said. “It brings joy to their life and it brings joy to my life too.”
Who knows what this compassionate and caring teen will have in store for her next birthday.
Her parting message to others: “Never give up hope. Keep going, I know that you can make it. You just have to have faith.”
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