Selflessness is hard to define, but it’s undeniable when you witness it in your community.
The Oakville Youth Group is on track to have their most successful fundraising initiative in three years for the Children's Aid Foundation of Halton (CAFH).
What started as a high school kid wanting to help out his local group home has now led to nearly $10,000 in funding raised to support children in need across Halton.
Andy Lin was an ambitious ninth-grade student who just wanted to help kids in need. He tried to get involved with a group home nearby but to his surprise, he wasn’t an ideal candidate.
"Honestly the biggest hurdle was me being too young, but I guess that also meant that I wasn’t really qualified to help out at the time," Andy said.
Despite not being able to get started through the group home, Andy’s sense of purpose wouldn’t go away so quickly.
Inspired by the concept of a Little Free Library he’d frequently pass by, Andy decided he wanted to run a book fair of his own. With the help of his good friend Alex Wang, the two boys would go door to door asking for books.
This was the beginning of a recurring theme that both Andy and Alex have been driven by; overwhelming support from the Oakville community.
Andy says, "It’s amazing how people are just so willing to help, I think that’s been the biggest contributor to our success so far."
Andy and Alex went on to form the Oakville Youth Group, and with the help of the team at CAFH, their efforts have put money in the hands of children in need, which has always been their ultimate goal.
Their team at the Oakville Youth Group are now launching their newest fundraiser where they’ve recruited 15 Oakville artists from Grades 9-12 across six high schools to create greeting cards with landmarks and businesses of Oakville on them.
The cards are being sold in support of CAFH and just like every other fundraiser the youth group organizes, 100% of the proceeds will be donated.
Executive Director at CAFH Tina Blatchford says, "There are so many layers of goodness in this story. Young enthusiastic, generous and creative students, who recruited young local artists, supporting local businesses by allowing their location to be included, and of course all in support of children and youth in need here in Halton."
Andy and Alex also recently received praise from Mayor Rob Burton.
The Oakville Youth Group is selling their holiday cards through Google forms they created, Andy and Alex will be personally delivering them.
Information on their cards can be found here:
Boxes of 10 featuring all cards ($35): https://forms.gle/48sUSz6nEEJbUa8a6
Individual cards ($4/each): https://forms.gle/PLQ6w3LYeoGZT3Yh8