Ruby Van De Velde - Community Service & Pageants

08/12/2026

✨👑 THE FURRY GODMOTHER SUCCESS STORY! 🐾💗

One of my favorite things about The Furry Godmother is getting to share my pageant dresses with other girls AND help animals at the same time! 🥰

Sweet Lena borrowed one of my very favorite dresses for her pageant… and guess what?! SHE WON MINI MISS WORLD FESTIVAL QUEEN!!! 👑✨😭 I couldn’t be more excited for her!

Last night we got to meet up again so Lena could give her donation to the Henry County Humane Society. 🐶🐱💗

BUT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BEST PART?!?!

LENA IS ADOPTING A SWEET KITTY!!! 😻🏡💕

This is exactly why I started The Furry Godmother. A little pageant dress can turn into a whole lot of magic for kids AND animals. 👑🐾✨

Congratulations, Lena! I’m so proud of you, and I can’t wait to see you and your new kitty live your best lives together! 💗😻

👑🐾

08/05/2026

My Papa and Maimie took me here for the first time today! They really are BEST pancakes ever. I even got to meet Judy!

08/03/2026

I met Elsie at my very first pageant, where she crowned me as the 2023 Mini Miss World Festival Queen! 👑💜

Ever since then, she has been one of my biggest inspirations and someone I really look up to! 🥹✨ I feel like I’ve grown up with her in this pageant world, and now I get to be on her court as your 2026 Little Miss World Festival 1st Runner Up! 👑💗

It’s so cool to look back and see how much we’ve both grown over the years! 🥰✨ I’m so thankful for all the memories, friendship, and pageant fun we’ve shared! 💕👑

Love you, Elsie and am so excited to spend the year with you!! 💜🫶🏼✨

07/29/2026

Happy belated birthday to my idol! Thanks for being the best role model a girl could have! I know you’ll be Miss America someday. Love you Elsie. 💜

07/22/2026

I’m so proud of my lyrical dance from the Li’l Miss Illinois Pageant! I was inspired by both of my grandmas, who are 2 of the strongest and bravest women I know. 💜❤️

A HUGE thank you to my incredible dance teacher, Sophie! We started dancing together in February, and she’s taught me so much. We became friends right away, and she always believed in me. She is the most beautiful dancer, and I’m so lucky she helped me learn. I am going to miss her so much, but wish her the best of luck at college.

I also want to thank my Papa and my Maimie for taking me to dance practice every single week. I couldn’t have done it without all of your love, time, and support.

I’m so thankful for everyone who helped me believe in myself. 💕🩰

Filmed on July 12, 2026 in Muscatine, Iowa

07/20/2026

My official photos from the Miss Illinois Youth Pageant have arrived and I am SO in love with them! 👑📸 Stephen Janousek did such an amazing job!

Can I also get a "woot woot" for my amazing GIRL POWER jersey, with a #13 shoutout for my Ballhawk Girls!! 🥎⚡️ The endlessly talented Kara Powell customized this amazing jersey that perfectly fits my true personality. I LOVE sports and empowering young girls to believe that they can do ANYTHING! 💪🎀 I am so thankful that Kara and her incredible daughters came into my life. 🌸

If you look close, you can even see a heart on my sleeve for their sweet angel girl, Brycelyn, who is forever 6 🤍. She is the reason we choose joy and kindness always. ✨

07/19/2026

When my mom and I got home from the pageant last weekend, we found out that our sweet kitty, Ollie, was missing. 💔 We’ve been looking for her every day, and it’s been over a week with no sign of her. We miss her so much.

One of my favorite things about pageantry is getting to help others. I was so excited to receive a scholarship for being First Runner-Up in the Miss Illinois Youth Program, and I wanted to use some of it to give back to my community.

I donated $100 to the Kewanee Humane Society, and while I was there, I got all the kitty snuggles my heart needed. 🐾 Then I met Bonnie… and I think I fell in love! The shelter staff said she looks like a little “beauty queen.” 👑 I think she might have been meant for me.

I’m still praying our Ollie finds her way home, but until then, I’m thankful I could help other kitties who need love too. ❤️

07/17/2026

Because of my amazing Queen sisters with the Miss Illinois Youth Program, I was able to donate some children’s books to The Freedom House in Kewanee. 💜