When she was 9 years old, Claire Guyader wanted to do something to help others. She did chores to raise $100 for the homeless. Then the pandemic hit. “Covid took a toll on many families,” she explained. “And there was even a bigger need at the local food bank.” Claire decided to support the food bank where she lives in San Luis Obispo, California. Now she’s 13 years old — and has raised more than $10,000!
Claire created a gardening newsletter to help make more money for charity. R-N-C Yardcare has gardening tips, a plant of the week, and jokes. The monthly is $1, which goes to the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Food Bank. “It is amazing to see people’s ,” Claire told News-O-Matic. “And many of my subscribers give more than the subscription amount.”
Claire uses the Thanksgiving holiday to raise funds for those in need. “It’s a time of giving thanks and a time of sharing with others,” she explained. In 2021, Claire worked to help make Thanksgiving Day happier for many. Her first annual Thanksgiving fund drive earned $1,750. Then she did more the next year.
In 2022, Claire created a flyer to explain how her fund drive helps the SLO Food Bank. A printing company agreed to print her flyers. Another company put 7,000 of her flyers in their farm-to-table boxes. That way, more people could learn about Claire’s efforts. Claire raised almost $5,000 from that.
Over the past three years, Claire has raised more than $10,000. That’s enough money to provide 70,000 meals for those in need! But the teen does more than give money. Claire also her time. She does that by packaging food at the food bank. She helps harvests crops at local farms as well.
This holiday season, Claire is again working to raise funds to make Thanksgiving a bit brighter. And she is once again working with local groups to help spread the word of her fundraising efforts. The eighth grader hopes others will realize that they too can make a difference. She had advice for anyone to do that.
“Try and be creative,” suggested Claire. “Have a plan from the heart, and care about it.” And she added: “You can achieve anything you want — no matter your age.”
Updated November 20, 2023, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Gail Hennessey
