Good Cause -- Alyssa Paine

-- Story by June Casagrande; photo by {tk]

She’s doing it for the children, but she’s just a child herself.

Alyssa Paine, an 11-year-old Newport Beach resident, likes Christmas,

friends and gingerbread houses. But she also likes helping others. Along

with a group of friends, she’s putting her passions to use to help

children who are less fortunate than herself.

On Dec. 12, , Alyssa held a party where 28 or so friends decorated

gingerbread houses. The children paid $35 to attend, and Alyssa will

donate the money -- more than $1,000 -- to Orangewood Children’s Home in

Orange.

“When you think about orphans and abused kids, and you think that they

don’t get any presents, it’s just really sad,” said Alyssa, a

sixth-grader at Newport Heights Elementary School.

Her mother, Laney, helped research charities and ultimately they

selected Orangewood, a transitional home for abused children.

“The good thing is, now the people at Orangewood can buy presents for

the kids there,” Alyssa said.

Her parents provided the gingerbread houses and the candy.

“There were gumdrops and pieces of Hershey bars and sour cherries and

vanilla wafers and stuff like that,” said Alyssa, who added that not all

the candy made it onto the houses.

“I’m proud,” mother Laney said. “The response was unbelievable. A lot

of kids and parents who came said they want to do something like this

next year.”

They’re not alone. Alyssa said she hopes to hold similar parties every

year, perhaps even twice a year.

“We could maybe make cookies and frost them,” she said.

Though Laney and father David credited their daughter with the idea

and the generosity to carry it out, Alyssa credits her parents.

“I figured it’s better to give than to receive,” she said. “I guess my

mom and dad taught me that.”