For the past four years the highlight of Jackson Price’s birthday week has been showing up at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and donating all of his gifts.
This past year was no different. The 5-year-old visited TSRH just a few days after his party, big heart and a big red wagon in tow. With a smile on his face, he delivered over 100 toys and $800 to what he fondly refers to as “his hospital.” “He looks like king of the mountain,” says Jackson’s mother Gaye Jackson. “That’s one of his proudest moments of the year.”
Gaye was told to pay TSRH a visit shortly after her son’s birth. Jackson was born with a very small extra thumb and required a corrective procedure to incorporate it into his main thumb. The staff at the hospital did such a fabulous job caring for Jackson and his “special thumb” that Gaye knew she wanted to try to pay them back however possible.
So for Jackson’s second birthday, the mom requested unwrapped gifts and monetary donations in lieu of typical birthday presents, beginning Jackson’s tradition of gift giving.
The tradition was carried out this year following a ninja-themed party. Gaye, a single mom, says she was looking for a place that would teach her son discipline and respect when she found Chamberlain Studios of Self Defense. After studying martial arts for about a year, Jackson was dead set on celebrating his fifth birthday at the studio with all his friends.
Twenty kids joined him for an afternoon of karate moves, running games and other ninja-related activities while the adults enjoyed a happy hour upstairs. When it came time to cut the ninja-themed cake, which was decorated by one of Gaye’s good friends, everyone gathered around to partake and wish Jackson a very happy birthday.
Gaye says the party was an overwhelming success but that giving back to his hospital remains Jackson’s favorite part. Planning began early; Gaye printed full-size color flyers that encouraged friends and family to make donations to the TSRH Hand Clinic. Chamberlain Studios of Self Defense set up a drop area where gifts could be donated weeks before the party date. Jackson also set up a lemonade stand where he made nearly $300 in two hours. Gaye says he beamed as he hand-delivered a large jar of money to the same doctors he’s had since he was a baby.
Jackson is already scheming for his sixth birthday party. Details are still in development, but one thing is certain: Jackson will be paying his hospital a visit. In the upcoming year, he hopes to raise money for the prosthesis area where some of the funds will be allocated to a specific cause, like making thumbs for children. “He loves doing it,” Gaye says. “He’s already looking forward to being one of the youngest volunteers. He has a good heart and I think that’s one of the things Scottish Rite has done for him is give him a great heart. I could never repay them.”
