Girl, 9, donates birthday gifts

MACHIAS – A 9-year-old girl living in Machiasport did the math: 17 friends invited to her birthday party could have netted her 17 presents.

But she wanted something bigger – and not even for herself.

Samantha McGovern asked her friends to bring flashlights, of all things, to her party on Jan. 8. Some brought two, some brought three.

On Thursday, she and her mother delivered 32 flashlights to The Next Step office in Machias, which works with victims of domestic violence in Washington County.

The flashlights will be used at the Next Step shelter, where battered women often arrive with their children – and no place else to turn.

Choosing to do something for charity rather than get more toys for herself was largely Samantha’s idea.

“I wanted to help women and children in trouble here,” Samantha said as she dropped off two grocery bags filled with the flashlights.

Just before she and her mom, Jenny McGovern, planned the party, Samantha had watched an Oprah Winfrey show about abused women.

Jenny suggested that Samantha didn’t really need more presents, because the two are living with her parents temporarily while her husband completes a U.S. Army assignment in Korea. Samantha’s room already is full of toys anyway.

The McGoverns had arrived in Machiasport in May from Arizona and will leave again in June for Georgia. After that, the family will move to Belgium.

The moving around – Samantha was born in Germany – has instilled a particular maturity in the 9-year-old.

“A year ago, when she turned 8, we also talked about not having birthday presents and doing something for charity,” Jenny said. “But she wasn’t at that point yet to say yes.”

When Samantha heard there was a shelter for abused women as close as Machias, she decided that flashlights could be her donation.

“It’s not easy to sleep in a new place,” she said. “And I think it’s quite sad when women are abused. I feel really, really bad for them.”

Long established in Ellsworth as a resource for families in Hancock County, The Next Step has been serving Washington County women and children since June 2004. In its first 18 months with the contract, The Next Step has worked with 274 people total.

For the 13 months that The Next Step has operated the shelter, it has been used by 47 women and 39 children for a total of 1,830 nights.

Flashlights are just the thing the shelter needs, said Sally Rier, who is the residential services coordinator for The Next Step. They hope that women and children who use them at the shelter will return them at the end of their stay, but the flashlights tend to go out the door.

“Sometimes it’s tough to be in a dark room alone,” Rier said.

“Sometimes I get scared in my own room, too,” Samantha added. “I’m still nervous about next year [moving again].”

Samantha credits her classmates in third grade at Fort O’Brien Elementary for helping collect the flashlights. It happened all on its own – in spite of the fact that her aunt, Heather Perry, is the school’s principal.

Heather Perry and Jenny McGovern, Samantha’s mother, are twin sisters. Jenny decided to move back to stay with her parents, Carrie and John Gardner, while her husband, Dan, is on assignment in Korea.

Jenny and Dan had met as students at Washington Academy in the 1990s, although Dan’s Navy family moved again before his senior year.

Jenny is proud of Samantha’s decision to give up her gifts to help others.

“One of the mothers at the party said to me that maybe this could start a new trend,” she said. “Because when you’re only 9, who really thinks about anything but presents?”

For information on The Next Step’s services and needs, contact them at the office at 255-4934 or its domestic violence hot line, (888) 604-8692.