‘I thought she would raise 20 bucks max’: Six-year-old raises $1,000 for Comox Valley Food Bank
Posted May 22, 2020 2:43 pm.
Last Updated May 22, 2020 6:27 pm.
COMOX (NEWS 1130) — Charley Urquhart, 6, took to her front yard last weekend – but not to play games as most young children do. The young Comox girl sat on her lawn for three days selling arts and crafts to raise money for the Comox Valley Food Bank amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She asked if I would take her outside to the front yard so she could set up a booth to sell her drawings for a dollar and she would use the money to help people and kids who don’t have any money or food,” Charley’s mother, Zoe Urquhart, says.
“I really thought she would raise 20 bucks max and last an hour in the front yard. Never expected it to get this big,” adds Urquhart.
“Big” is an understatement, as Charley sat outside for a total of three days, including an incredibly rainy Saturday-her sixth birthday-raising more than $1,000 for the local food bank.
“I have been so blown away by her dedication,” says the proud mother.
After raising a little under $200 on Friday and Saturday, Charley asked her mother to reach out to friends to let them know she would be back at it again on Monday at 2:00 p.m.
“She told me her goal on Friday was to raise $1,000 dollars. I told her any amount would be welcomed, not wanting to get her hopes up. Throughout the weekend she kept saying, ‘I’m going to raise $1000,'” says Urquhart.
Charley’s father, Tyler, lives in Vancouver and put the message out to his colleagues in the Vancouver Police Department.
“Much to my surprise, again, people came out and on top of that, people we knew from Vancouver, Banff, the Comox Valley, and other parts of Vancouver Island started sending e-transfers,” says Zoe.
When Charley and her mother dropped off the jar of $1,077 on Wednesday, the Comox Valley Food Bank told her the amount would allow them to feed 130 people for a month. Charley took the time to thank her supporters with a Facebook video on Wednesday.
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Urquhart believes that it’s sometimes best to let children run with their ideas and not limit them.
“It’s really made a lot of people come together and feel inspired and maybe it will inspire others to pay something good forward. If someone as small as her can grab a box and some drawings and bring this many people together for a good cause, anyone can do it.”
