Louisiana Girl Starts Non-Profit to Assist Other Kids During Difficult Times

(Ville Platte, Louisiana) - The Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office shared a photo on Facebook of Sheriff Charles Guillory and 9-Year-Old Lila Neal after she made a donation to the Sheriff's Department.

According to a social media post from the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Department, the young girl from Dequincy, Louisiana, has started her own nonprofit organization called "Lila's Patrol Pals."

Her mission is to assist not only police and sheriff's deputies but also children. Lila collects and cleans used stuffed animals, then donates them to local authorities so they are available when a child needs comfort.

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If you've ever watched emergency personnel shows on television involving police, EMS workers, or firefighters, you may have seen them arrive at the scene when a child is involved in an incident and hand the child a stuffed animal or toy. That's done to calm the child and to distract them from whatever may be going on in their presence.

Often, emergency workers purchase these dolls on their own, but with the help of organizations like Lila'a Patrol Pals, these dolls are provided to units at no cost.

If you're asking yourself what inspired this 9-year-old to do this, it's because her father worked for the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office and always kept a bag of stuffed animals in his unit for children he came in contact with while on calls.

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Several local agencies have already benefited from Lila's efforts and donations, but according to the Sheriff's Department, she hopes to expand her efforts into Texas one day.

Often, adults these days are critical of kids; however, this is the second story we've shared this week that highlights a kid in Louisiana making a difference in their community. Kids like Lila are doing great things these days, and so many in their communities are benefiting from their huge hearts.

Like the Sheriff's Department, we salute Lila for her contributions, and some kid out there will one day be the one comforted by Lila's Patrol Pal. If more kids in our community and across our state emulate Lila's generosity and care, we will be in great hands for years to come.

After a quick search on social media, I found the Facebook page for "Lila's Patrol Pals," and you can see many more photos of Lila dropping off dolls to other agencies across the state.

This is one Facebook page we highly recommend you follow and visit. So many kids are feeling secure with these dolls now.