Colts Neck High Schooler Teams With Police For Children's Charity

Carol Williams/Patch Staff

COLTS NECK, NJ - High School 10th-grader Daniela Olt teamed recently with the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association Hockey Team to distribute gifts to pediatric patients at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch. For Olt, it was not a new experience. Her empathy inspired her to create Daniela’s Wish in 2008, when she was just seven years old. The mission of the 501c3 non-profit volunteer organization is to help every child find comfort and safety, especially during times of sadness or trauma.

According to a release on her school website, 100 percent of the donations to Daniela's Wish go to improving the lives of children in need. In 2010, Olt collected more than 1,000 boxes of cookies and 300 new stuffed animals and sent them to Haiti after the devastating earthquake there. Just two years later, in response to Superstorm Sandy closer to home, she donated more than 3,000 books, new toys and new stuffed animals. Daniela's Wish partners with the aforementioned Monmouth Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center and CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, visiting each three times a year with new toys for young patients and comfort for their families.

"My mission is to help other kids smile by granting a wish and giving them something to call their very own, something to play with or hold onto during times of sadness, just to help make them feel like a kid again," Olt said on her website danielawish.org. "One wish granted can last a lifetime."

Daniela Olt often collects stuffed animals for charity.

Photograph by Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press