Like many 12-year-olds, Hannah Yarbrough's teeth are wrapped in corrective braces.

Despite its metal and plastic confines, the rising eighth-grader's smile lights up a room.

That smile, combined with her sunny disposition and unusually mature sense of compassion, have been reaching many this summer.

The North Forsyth Middle School student decided she didn't want to spend her break in the traditional fashion of hanging out at the pool or going to the mall with friends.

She wanted to make some new friends, but perhaps not the kind most her age might think of.

Yarbrough decided to spend her summer volunteering at Tara Plantation nursing home in Cumming.

"I just thought it'd be fun and something to fill out my summer," she said during a recent visit to the facility on Tribble Gap Road.

Since school ended in late May, Yarbrough has spent the hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Tara. And she's made more than just a few friends.

"Don, he's very funny and really nice," she said. "And there's Betty, Etsel and Marjorie. I spend a lot of time with them.

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