Tootsie Roll Drive and Support for a Local Child
Tootsie Roll Drive and Support for a Local Child
Council: 13181 - SABATTUS
Project Description:
This year for our annual Tootsie Roll Drive, I, Robert Michaud reached out to the local school superintendent to look
for a deserving recipient of our Tootsie roll funds. In years past, we had found those recipients through friends or
relatives of Knights in our Council, but this year we looked to the support of the community to help us find a
candidate. The young girl that ultimately was selected is the perfect choice and certainly a very deserving individual.
Sophia Carroll was a victim of traumatic brain injury by an abusive father. She has since been placed into a very
loving foster home with parents and home health nurses that can provide her with the love and support she needs.
Foster mother Brandie Deschaines-Rand and her husband are foster parents for a couple of other children with
special needs, along with their own biological children. I had the opportunity to meet them in person in their home
and was excited to see the loving support that that Sophia receives. She is a joyful, playful and happy young girl that
now has the opportunity to reach her full potential with the support of her foster parents.
Raising multiple children isn’t cheap or easy for any family, but those challenges are exponentially greater when a
few of those children have special needs. Between the physical accommodations of the house, the regular in-home
nursing care, and the regular needs of growing children, it can be extremely expensive. As is customary with our
Council, we take the proceeds from our Tootsie Roll Drive and round up to the nearest $100 with additional funds
from our account, and in this case, we were able to hand over checks totaling $500 for the support of Sophia. I have
never been so happy to award money to someone because I could sense that this young girl would get the most from
our support.
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