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Chloe Newman: An 18-year-old who donated hundreds of new prosthetic leg Barbie dolls to girls with prosthetic legs just like hers.
Over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in more than 150 nations in the 61 years of the doll's existence. Mattel claims 3 Barbies are sold every second.
Because the doll is so influential, Mattel recently introduced Barbies with stylish prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs, to illustrate how diverse beauty truly is.
But this doesn't help girls with prosthetic limbs who can't afford the dolls.
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Chloe, of Mechanicville, New York understood, for she was born without a right leg.
Her intent was to buy 100 prosthetic Barbies and give them to her doctor to handout to girls with prosthetics.
"I think they would feel better about themselves," Chloe told TV station WWLP.
"That they would [say] wow they are making a Barbie like me so why should I be ashamed of myself if there's now toys like me."
But the prosthetic dolls were hard to find.
The family bought them from Amazon, Walmart and posted on Facebook for help. Soon Barbies began arriving in large numbers to Chloe's home. Mattel donated 200 Barbies.
In October Chloe donated about 430 of these prosthetic Barbies to Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Massachusetts.
She chose Shriners because since childhood she has received prosthetic treatments there. The hospital received so many dolls, it is donating some to other Shriners' facilities.
And all of this happened because a teenage girl knew the importance of self-image and wanted to help others like herself to feel better about themselves.
Editor's Note:
To learn more, click here and here, and for Shriners, click here. Barbie statistics, click here.
In the next KazanToday:
A nurse who 'adopted' a homeless man so he could have a heart transplant.
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