A young Okotokian is turning her new skill into a way to give back to the elderly in her community.
Eight-year-old Brooke Anderson has created a colouring book of Christmas pictures she’s drawn and outlined, and she’s selling them for $5 each with proceeds going to the Sheep River Health Trust.
Mom, Jacqueline Dale, said she was mind-blown when her daughter suggested selling the books and giving the money “to the old people.”
“Her goal was to give it to the nursing homes in town,” said Dale. “She has been infatuated with the nursing home since her choir did a nursing home tour last year, and I’m a paramedic in town so we talk about nursing homes quite a bit and she’s very aware of them.”
Because not all of the homes in Okotoks are locally-owned, they decided to make the donation to the Sheep River Health Trust instead. So far, Anderson has raised about $150 in proceeds, receiving around $1.70 per book sale with a few extra donations from some family and other buyers.
The project didn’t start that big.
In fact, the pictures came about because Anderson, an only child, was trying to keep herself busy at home during the pandemic and found some learn-to-draw videos on YouTube.
“I left her to it and when I came back she had done two of them, and I was like, ‘Dude, those are so good,’” said Dale.
She suggested they add the pictures to their Christmas cards this year, and scanned and printed a few copies for family.
Then they discussed making a few more pictures and creating a small book to give cousins as gifts, because they typically try to make handmade items to give away. The plan was to put a collection of pictures in Duo-Tang folders.
After a few hours, Anderson had drawn up a dozen more images.
That’s when the idea struck Dale to have the pages made into a bound book rather than a folder. She took the vision to Okotoks Print and Copy Shop.
“She showed me a sample of one she’s done before and said she could have them ready in two days,” said Dale. “I got home and told my daughter we were going to have 10 of them printed off.”
Anderson decided then that the print quality had to be good enough to sell for charity.
They increased their order of Brooke's Christmas Colouring Book to 50, and Okotoks Print and Copy edited the front cover free-of-charge to help with the cause. The back cover now has a thank you message from Anderson to her supporters.
Dale said they gave about 30 of the books away to family and friends, then she took to Facebook groups to promote the rest.
The response was overwhelming.
“It just blew up,” said Dale. “I ordered another 100 books this morning (Dec. 10) and 50 of those are already sold.”
She said she will take pre-orders from people as long as there’s interest, and the printer has agreed to do another run should the demand arise.
The project has seen more success than the family expected – they thought they might have $40-50 to donate to the Sheep River Health Trust at the end of the month.
Dale said the community support has been fantastic, and she continues to be shocked and blown away by her daughter’s philanthropy.
“She’s a better person than I am,” she said. “She’s one of those super-active, sports-going kids, and to know that she’s so sweet and kind is amazing.
“We talk about doing donations and fundraising through our sports, but for her to say she wanted to give money to the old people on her own is amazing. I’m super proud.”
To order one of the colouring books, contact Dale by email at [email protected]
