Daily dose of sweetness: 9-year-old girl delivers 'special birthday' goodies

Special birthday delivery, courtesy of 9-year-old Eleanor Johnson!

Eleanor Johnson
Eleanor Johnson, 9, has delivered more than a dozen birthday goody bags and cards around the Twin Cities.
Courtesy of Christa Norris

Since late April, the Eden Prairie girl has been delivering birthday cards and goody bags to people celebrating birthdays during the pandemic.

It all started because Eleanor's grandmother, who is in a nursing home, and her best friend marked birthdays during the coronavirus outbreak and Eleanor was disappointed she couldn't celebrate with them. So, she decided to make them special gifts and cards and dropped them off.

"Then she came to me and said, mom all people who have 'covid-birthdays' need to have special birthdays," her mother, Christa Norris, said in an email. "Can you find more people who are having birthdays so I can drop off cards and gifts?"

Eleanor has since delivered more than a dozen birthday gifts locally. And — she does it in her Girl Scout vest “because she says this is what a Girl Scout does!” her mother wrote.


From acts of kindness and sweet gestures to inspirational signs, these are some of the ways Minnesotans are lifting one another during the coronavirus pandemic.

Discover something that brightens your day? We may include it here. Email it to nyang@mpr.org.

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