It's personal - Community Memorial Health System

Maddie Charles:The Joy of CaringMMaddie Charles will tell you she was born toplay softball. And on her 11th birthday, she hit ahome run.In a world where most kids have visions ofiPads and Xboxes dancing in their heads, Maddiefocuses on O.R.s and X-rays.The sixth-grader at Walnut Canyon Arts andTechnology Magnet School asked the 60 guestsnot to give her presents during her recent birthdaybash at a Moorpark ball field. Instead she requestedthey donate to a cause Maddie champions: CommunityMemorial Hospital.“I told them, ‘I have everything I need so Ishould help other people,’” said Maddie, an articulateyoung lady who uses words like “curriculum”and “devastated” in her conversation.So she and her parents set out sandwiches tofeed the guests and a coffee can for donations.Maddie is a natural when it comes to helpingothers, according to her mother, Nellie Charles.“If someone is in need, Maddie is there,” saidNellie, a Fillmore native who gave birth to Maddieand her two younger sons at Community Memo-rial Hospital.Maddie has walked her neighborhood collect-ing for Make-A-Wish Foundation, sung to seniorcitizens, sent cards to U.S. troops on duty in theMiddle East and planted trees on Earth Day.She manages all this in addition to playing ontwo softball squads as catcher and tending the goalon a soccer team.She even adopted Taz, a horse whose ownermoved out of state. The owner continues to paythe boarding fees but never visits or grooms theanimal. So Maddie talked her father, Christopher,into hiring a farrier to tend the horse’s hooves.After school, Maddie and her friends bathe andbrush the seemingly grateful Taz.Oh, and then there is Scraps the cat; theneighborhood stray knows there is always a mealat Maddie’s front door.Considering she has taken so many charitablecauses to heart, it took something powerfulto focus Maddie on the work of CommunityMemorial Hospital.And eight years ago, Nellie’s best friend StacyGraham gave birth prematurely to twins Patrickand Parker. Due to complications, both boys werecared for at Community Memorial Hospital duringtheir early months of life.“I remember Maddie sitting in the waitingroom, while her mother and I were there,” saidGraham, a Venturan, who herself was born atCMH. “Even as a little girl, she was always soconcerned, so nurturing.”Maddie, though, is awed by the generosityof others. At the party’s end, she counted $463 inthat coffee can.“My friends are so kind-hearted and sweet,”she said, adding that one guest threw in “onehundred bucks.”Her father, Christopher, delivered the moneyto the hospital in the coffee can and expressespride when he describes the reaction of the staff.“A lot of people were blown away that mydaughter gave to the hospital in lieu of gifts,” saidChristopher, a filmmaker.“I told them, I have everything Ineed so I should help other people”“If a little girl could do this, what couldsomeone who has resources do? To Maddie, $463is like a $100,000 to an adult.”For her efforts, Maddie received aninvitation to the Gold Dust Gala, a major fundraiserof the Community Memorial HealthcareFoundation, which gives uninsured and underinsuredwomen the care they need through theBreast Center at Community Memorial Hospital.As it turns out, Maddie was the youngestguest at the April benefit. There, she said, she meta woman who told her the cancer treatment shereceived at CMH saved her life.The experience inspired Maddie to find newways to help others, her mom said.Asked what she wants to be when she growsup, Maddie offers a host of thoughtful answers:Peace Corps volunteer, chef and actress.But one thing is for certain. Maddie willforego presents on her next birthday and ask formore donations to CMH.Who knows, maybe next year she could bata thousand. A thousand dollars, that is.16 CARING | COMMUNITY MEMORIAL HEALTH SYSTEM