If it truly is better to give than receive, Noah Hall-King must be on cloud nine.
Through soliciting donations from friends, family and local businesses -- as well as executing a fundraiser at a local pizza store -- 6-year-old Noah used his birthday to raise $1,650 towards the Ocoee Police Department, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
"During all of this, he amazed me with his courage in standing in front of large groups of people talking about what he was doing," his mother, Cheryl King, told the news source.
The kindergartner's gift will help fund summer education programs for children, WFTV notes.
Noah didn't spend his birthday empty-handed, though. On top of a bag filled with goodies, Police Chief Charlie Brown presented him with the chief's special award at the city's commission meeting last Tuesday.
But Noah's 6th birthday wasn't the first one he celebrated selflessly. Last year, he contributed $1,210.25 to the Ocoee Fire Department -- the largest one-time donation ever to the city's firefighters. The department used the funds for a program that, among other things, enlists volunteers to build wheelchair ramps for people with disabilities.
Fortunately, Noah's big-hearted means of celebrating a birthday is becoming less of a rarity among kids these days. The Christian Science Monitor reported in March that nonprofits have noticed an increase in young philanthropists, giving up gifts from their birthdays and bar and bat mitzvahs in exchange for donations to worthy causes.
"Now, in any given year, we have 10 to 15 children who did this," Natalie Leek-Nelson, president and CEO of a Cleveland-based nonprofit, told the outlet. She said in years past, children's celebrations that benefit her organization were considerably less frequent and sporadic.
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