ATLANTA -- Allison Hunter is just 10 years old -- but she's old enough to capture a dream and committed enough to see it through.
Allison is quite the entrepreneur -- well-versed beyond her age.
"I knew I could give people hope where there is no hope in this part of town -- and that I could give them food, I could give them water, I could give them hope and that can really make a difference," she said.
All summer, Allison baked dog biscuits and sold them to make money -- not for summer fun, but for a non-profit called the Atlanta Dream Center in the old 4th Ward near Downtown Atlanta. She knocked on a lot doors with an easy sales pitch.
"Donations only," she said. "I didn't want people to be all stuck up about how much they were because people were asking 'How much were they'," she said. "I said, excuse me would you be interested to buy some dog biscuits? All proceeds go to the Atlanta Dream Center. Then people would ask what is the Dream Center -- and I'd say it's just a wonderful ministry helping people down in the 4th Ward. That's all."
All it took was one Saturday working in the community with her familyand the Dream Center, and Allison was hooked, her heart touched, her mind made up.
"I guess I set my heart out to do it, and usually I get it done," she said.
So while her friends played, she worked from sun-up to sundown.
"I was cutting and rolling, cutting and rolling putting them in the oven and sometimes I'd stay 'til 12 at night," she said.
"To have a 10-year-old to spend a good portion of her summer cooking and baking and selling these things to help the neighborhood and tohelp children like her age, it's heart-wrenching," said Dream Center director Pastor Paul Palmer.
Her goal was to raise $1,000. And today, 3,000 dog biscuits and five weeks later, she surprised the center's director with exactly that.
Mission accomplished -- for now. We are certain Allison's compassion will show itself again, somewhere.
You're never too young to be a hero.
Allison is starting the 5th grade this fall.
