LILLY Goodall is a little girl with a big, big heart.
She may only be eight years old but her good deeds have already brought smiles to hundreds of faces around the borough.
Mum Vicky explained that Lilly has always been kind and caring: “My husband Paul is disabled he has had two liver transplants and has had cancer.
“Lilly helps him every day she has always known her dad needs help and she is always there to do what she can.”
But Lilly’s caring nature doesn’t stop there as during lockdown, she became concerned that the residents at a local care home weren’t able to see their families and wanted to help.
She made bunches of artificial flowers for all the ladies who weren’t going to see their families on Mother’s Day and made each of them a hand-made card.
Following that, she did a sponsored walk to raise some money so that she could buy Easter eggs for all the residents at Hemsworth Park Care Home.
Her walk was so successful that she raised enough to also buy the home a rabbit hutch so that they could get a rabbit.
“Lilly is such a kind, giving girl she is always thinking about how she can help people and once she had helped the nursing home, she said that she wanted to do something for Barnsley Hospital to give something back as her younger sister spent time on the children’s ward,” said Vicky.
At Christmas, she used her pocket money to buy selection boxes and other chocolate items to donate to patients who were spending the festive season in hospital. With the help of a farm shop close to her home in Hemsworth, which agreed to match whatever Lilly bought, she donated over 250 items.
“Everyone in the village gets involved because they know what Lilly is like, always wanting to help out,” said Vicky.
Lilly, a pupil at Grove Lea Primary School, then went on to do six-mile sponsored walk in aid of Barnsley Hospital Charity raising £360 which was used to buy Easter treats for children in hospital over Easter and the balance was used to purchase sensory toys.
“She then decided she wanted to go around all the local shops and supermarkets and ask for Easter eggs,” said Vicky.
“We went and managed to get 112 eggs donated for the kids there.”
Lilly and Vicky went along to the hospital with Vicky dressed as the Easter Bunny and Lilly dressed as Alice in Wonderland to hand out the gifts.
Lilly has been nominated in the Young Superstar category of the Proud of Barnsley awards.
“It’s brilliant. Lilly is such a giving, caring girl I am so proud of her. She has so much to give and really is one in a million,” said Vicky.
“We have been through so much as a family and she just gets on with it and is always thinking of others. She is amazing.”
