One Sunday before Mass, Sister Lois Kikkert, OP, Resurrection parish life coordinator, was walking down the aisle and greeting parishioners at the Church of the Visitation in Illiopolis. She saw Mikayla, the second oldest of three daughters of Stephanie and Michael Hady, of Mt. Auburn, trying to catch her attention. Mikayla had a decorated box on her lap, and the then 7-year-old explained she was giving it to the church at the offering.

It was Mikayla’s own money — money she received for her birthday, from the tooth fairy, and from her grandmother for doing little chores.

“I hear about all the people who need help, the people in Haiti, and other people who are suffering, that Sister Lois has talked about. I know we are supposed to help people. That is what I want to do — to help.”

The box didn’t contain a large amount of money in terms of dollars and cents — $10.72 — but it was all the money the second-grader had.

“She went on to explain to me how she had three jars at home. One was labeled ‘savings,’ another was labeled ‘spending’ and the third was labeled ‘charity,’” said Sister Lois.

Mikayla had divided her money between the three jars, “but in the end I took the money out of two of the jars and put it all in the ‘charity’ jar,” said Mikayla.

“I was overwhelmed, as were others, by her sincere compassion, generosity, and heartfelt desire to help others,” Sister Lois said later, recalling the incident. “It really touched my heart.”

It touched the hearts of other people in the parish.

A few weeks later, Sister Lois found a large glass jar to set out in the church on Sunday for additional donations for Mikayla’s campaign. Parishioners responded generously and gave $125.

Mikayla chose the children’s ward at St. John’s Hospital to be the recipient of the donations, since it would help children who were hospitalized and not able to be home to play with their friends and toys.

“The hospital sent us a long list of items children have requested. It contains things like CDs and books,” said Mikayla’s mom. “We’re going out shopping soon, and will take what we buy to St. John’s.”

Mikayla had help from her older sister, Chandler, a fourth-grader, and her little sister, Grayson, 3, making paper flowers that she gave to all the people at church who contributed to the fund.