Belong & Contribute
Just being a kid
7-12
Young gardener uses produce for flood aid
Photo and reporting by
Weirton Daily Times
Aiden Cooper, 8, sold vegetables from his own backyard garden, plus lemonade and water, at the Brooke County Farmers Market and raised more than $200 for Follansbee flood relief. One customer handed him $100 for a few tomatoes.
Two sets of hands
Kara Cooper drove him through the mud-covered streets after the flood, and when he said they had to do something, she helped him haul the zucchini and the lemonade pitcher to the market table. That was the whole job.
Why we picked this one
Nobody organized a bake sale committee here. A kid saw mud on a street he recognized and had a garden already growing in his own backyard, so he used it.
Pick a number before you start, even a small one, and tell your kid that's the target. Sell whatever you've already got growing or already made, lemonade, tomatoes, whatever's on hand, and every dollar goes to the goal, not one cut for supplies. When it's over, find out exactly what the money bought and tell your kid that specific thing, not just 'it helped.'
Read the full story at
Weirton Daily Times
Where it happened:
Wellsburg, WV
Your kid has seen something on the news that bothered them too. The difference is whether anyone hands them a card table and a cash box.