Many of us were watching the Winter Olympics last month and have seen heroic people from many different countries.  Too often there are local people who live heroic lives and don’t get the attention of national television.

We would like to tell you about Grace Dalton, a 17-year-old Hometown Hero from Covington.  Grace, a senior at Young Americans Christian School in Conyers, first became a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at age 3 when she started collecting change in a bottle and every year since then has raised money in creative ways.  She produced and sold original artwork (age 4), created Christmas cards from her artwork (age 5), sold refreshments and bracelets (age 6), organized and held a magic show at her home (age 7), and held a Bingo night (age 8), held Movie For A Cure Night in her backyard where neighbors and friends brought blankets and picnics baskets (age 9).  She planned each yearly event’s budget and goals.  She would even market the events by delivering flyers on her bike.  To date she has helped raise many thousands of dollars with 100% of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.  The past few years she has been a volunteer in local hospitals and events in Kentucky, Florida and Missouri.  Besides all of her charitable work Grace plays soccer, basketball and volleyball and was named MVP of her school’s 2012 State Championship soccer team.

Grace is passionate about seeing cancer cured and her next goal is to be a pediatric nurse. She will attend Georgia Southern this fall to begin her journey. We have no doubt she will succeed.

Congratulations Grace for being named the 1st eMetro Times’ Hometown Hero.