Heart of Gold: 11-year-old doles out handmade wool caps, scarves to the homeless

LUMBERTON – The tears started flowing late Saturday afternoon after Belle finished meeting with the people at the plaza.

Her mother said her 11-year-old daughter cried all the way home in their pickup.

Jennifer Jacobs said Jazlyn does that every time she comes down to the fountain – the Dick Taylor Plaza in downtown Lumberton – and hands out toboggans, scarves and blankets to the homeless and others less fortunate in life.

Often, her brother, Austin, and her mother help out.

The child makes the hats and scarves herself to distribute to the downtrodden who live on the fringes of society in the world of Robeson County.

Afterward, the thought of their plight hurts her soul.

But Jazlyn, who attends fifth grade at the private NewPathway Christian Academy in Lumberton, feels that it’s her duty to help the homeless and the destitute.

It’s not fair that they don’t have a place to live in,” she said softly to her mother, the tears streaming down her face before opening the door to the truck for the ride home.

On the way, her mother said, she asked her youngest of four children if she was OK.

“She said, ‘No, Mamma. I’m not. Every time I come out here, I give them hats that I work hard on, and I’m glad their head will be a little warmer because of me, but it’s just that – a hat. A hat is not a warm bed at night, it’s not a safe feeling when they close their eyes.

“I can’t knit safety into a hat or the feeling of worth to let them know that they matter,” Jazlyn said. “I’m just a little girl, and I don’t know how to do a lot of stuff but if I could knit houses for people, I would no matter how long it took. People not having a safe place to sleep isn’t right.”

Jazlyn also takes out the trash for some of the residents of her family’s apartment village complex.

She’s a Lumberton girl who, as one former downtown employee put it, is blessed with a heart of gold.

“It was a feeling I wanted my kids to feel,” said Jennifer Jacobs, who encourages her children to be good Samaritans to those who struggle to make ends meet.

She can relate: Jacobs, too, has struggled at times in her own life.

She was once homeless herself while living in Baltimore.

“She’s a nice, caring person,” Jazlyn said of her mother.

A marriage that started out on a good path fell apart. Issues caused the marriage to crumble, and husband and wife went their separate ways.

Jacobs now calls her children her best friends.

Over the last couple of years, the family has made their home in Northeast Point Apartments on the edge of town.

Jazlyn has two other sisters, as well, who are older and live outside the home.

She uses knitting loom machines to create her handmade toboggans and scarves.

“You put in the yarn and turn it,” her mother explained. “You can make a whole hat in less than five minutes. She gets her yarn at the Robeson County Church and Community Center.”

The elder Jacobs said it was a troubling home life that led to her daughter’s do-gooder activity. “There was so much depression in our lives. That’s where this came from,” Jacobs said from their apartment as she showed how the knitting machine worked.

“This little girl is amazing,” said the former downtown employee by email. She could not be reached for additional comment.

“I actually know her story,” she said, “and I’m in shock that even with the hand she was dealt, this little girl is still playing an amazing game. She was the victim of abuse from her father while her mother fought to escape with her and her brother. They went into hiding while going to 15 court dates and stayed in hiding until he was locked up. And all the while she still made the hats. She passes them out in front of my shop, and one day I took the time to speak to her and heard her story.”

“It helps you to feel grateful for what you have,” Jazlyn said of her encounters with the homeless in the city. “My biggest fear is not being successful in life. I feel like I have good talent.”

Brother Austin helps pass out the caps and other clothing and blankets when the three venture to the downtown fountain by the courthouse. Often, some of these people sleep on the benches at the plaza.

But that’s where Jazlyn connects who those who live largely off public assistance and the kindness of strangers.

“What I feel like she deserves is that feeling – being humble. Helpful,” Jennifer Jacobs said. “As rough as we have it, we can still make a difference for other people. It’s teaching a feeling on how good it is helping people out. It’s humbling.”

The former downtown employee said in the email, “Who takes her allowance and shops at thrift stores for yarn so she can make hats and give them to homeless people herself? Plus, she told me she makes sure she takes time to talk to each person because they’re lonely, and she remembers what that felt like when she couldn’t speak out.”

Before leaving the fountain on Saturday, Jazlyn asked the small cluster of people who had gathered at one end of the plaza if she could pray for them.

“Yes,” they said.

With their heads down and some holding their new knit hats, the youngster prayed.

Afterward, she started to become emotional and headed for the parked truck.

It was time to go home.

“It’s sad,” she said, “because they’re homeless. It makes me feel good when I do it.”