Brinley raised $2K to buy Christmas presents for kids
                                 Courtesy photo

Brinley raised $2K to buy Christmas presents for kids

Courtesy photo

EASLEY — I wanted to shine light on a 7-year-old Easley second grade little girl, Brinley, who raised $2,000 by making and selling bracelets and receiving donations for a local Christmas toy drive.

Brinley’s father and I spoke with her one evening about Scruffy’s Auction doing a Christmas Toy Drive for children who may not receive toys for Christmas. Brinley’s first reaction to hearing how some kids may not receive any toys, broke her heart to where she was nearly in tears due to being so upset. We talked with Brinley on how we can help the kids to have a good Christmas. Brinley has her own little company called “Loved by Jewell” where she makes and sells bracelets. Brinley decided that she wanted to help raise money by making and selling her bracelets for the month of November to put towards buying Christmas gifts. Brinley decided she wanted to raise $200 for the Christmas toy drive.

On Nov. 1, Brinley started her journey to raise $200 for the toy drive. By Nov. 2, Brinley had received $200 in donations for the toy drive, but it didn’t stop there with the generosity of others. In her first week, Brinley had raised $312 with selling bracelets and receiving donations. Week two, Brinley was asked to go to Scruffy’s auction to set up her bracelets to sell. Scruffy told Brinley if she raised $500 that he would sing whatever song she picked. That night Brinley was up to $597 in sales and donations and Scruffy had to sing Taylor Swift’s “22” while wearing a blonde wig!

We were all just amazed at her continuous hard work with researching new and creative ideas with clay bracelets. Week three, Brinley had reached an outstanding amount of $684. During week four of her fundraiser, she was asked to come back to Scruffy’s auction to showcase her creative bracelets on a Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, Nov. 25, Brinley presented Scruffy with a check of $1,500! The next day, Brinley was asked to go to Xtreme Auction to set up her bracelets to sell. The generosity and kindness of others was overwhelming. Brinley was at $1,964 from sales and donations. We were getting ready to leave the auction, and a woman came up to Brinley and was in tears with how touching Brinley’s heart was in wanting to help other kids. This kind lady gave Brinley $36 to make a grand total of $2,000!

Brinley was able to dress up as an elf on the day of the Christmas toy drive on Dec. 10 and help other kids pick out toys. I asked Brinley how she liked helping kids pick their toys out, and she said “Mom, this is so amazing to see kids so happy.” Brinley doesn’t completely understand money and how much $2,000 is, but she does understand a smile on a kids face when they get to have a new toy for Christmas. As a parent, it brings us so much joy to our heart to see how our child worked so hard and what brings her joy is helping and seeing other kids have a Merry Christmas.

Brinley started this journey to help other kids with a goal of $200 and within a month — through the kindness and generosity of others wanting to help kids — reached a goal of $2,000 for the Christmas toy drive. She made and sold 72 bracelets and received over $1,000 in donations.