Brighten Your Day

There's this girl I met through community theatre a few years ago. She's in her late teens, so significantly younger than me (I'm 25 female).

I've been doing musical theatre for years and she's more of a newcomer, so I've always tried to give her advice and feedback if she asks for it, be supportive, even taught her how to braid her hair for the latest show we did. She's a really sweet kid who works really hard and loves musicals, but she's from a low-income family that can't afford paying for extra classes.

She told me the other day that she'd taken a trial singing class with a teacher who's a friend of mine and she loved it, but sadly wouldn't be able to continue until she'd saved up enough money from her part-time job, which would take a while because her family needs her to help out with bills at home. This made me sad because she's a good kid and musical theatre means a lot to her, so I figured I might as well help since I have the means.

Her birthday is coming up next month so I talked to my friend (the singing teacher) and worked out a 12 class deal. After I explained the situation, my friend also agreed to give the kid a discounted rate for future classes so she can hopefully afford to keep taking them. I made a gift voucher card gifting her the 12 classes (anonymously of course) and put it in an envelope, then asked the stage manager to give it to her privately after rehearsals without saying who it's from.

No idea what her reaction was as I haven't seen her since then, but I hope it made her happy!