Zae Graves is a queen… a beauty queen! She doesn’t live in a castle, but she does live with her parents Sam and Heather along with her brother Hudsen and numerous pets. She is fourteen years old, is home-schooled, and lives in the Seadrift area. Home-schooling appears to be a family tradition as Zae’s dad Sam was home-schooled and her brother is as well.

On February 10th Zae won the title of “Junior Teen Texas.” Zae had several perfect scores when the judges interviewed her. At the end of July Zae will go to Florida to compete in the Regency International Pageant. She will be representing Texas and competing with girls from all over the world!

Because Zae holds the title of “Junior Teen Texas” she wants to use it as a platform to help the community. Zae and her dad are building “Blessing Boxes” which are wooden boxes that hold food items, toiletries, baby, and pet items that are free to those that need them. The boxes are located at places which are easily accessible to the public. They are constructed with lots of love! It’s as Zae says, “I do the “Blessing Box” because it’s good for the community and it makes me feel good to be able to help people out.”

Zae has been involved with other community events starting with toy drives, serving food at Wounded Warrior Weekends, and handing out candy at Seadrift’s Trunk or Treat Halloween event.

This past year Zae and her family took it upon themselves to hand out at the beginning of the school year eighteen backpacks with all the supplies in them. At Thanksgiving last year, they gave away food boxes to five families. In conclusion Zae had this to say, “I would like to thank the community for all their help and encouragement in helping me get to where I am now.” -Tanya DeForest

A Blessing Box