Chelsea Phaire. Image: Instagram/@chelseascharity
A 10-year-old girl named Chelsea Phaire, the founder of Chelsea’s Charity, has sent 1,500 art kits to her fellow children in at least 12 states in the United States, to help cheer them up amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phaire has been reaching out to children who are staying in homeless facilities and foster care through the use of art, Fox-owned WITI reported last Sunday, May 17.
Phaire began her initiative in August last year during her birthday. Initially, its goal was to provide art kits to kids affected by school shootings. The child said she has experienced bullying in school. She also turned to art when she lost her swim coach to a gun violence-related incident.
Before the quarantine orders in the country, Phaire and her mom, Candace, traveled to shelters and schools to hand out art kits. They also taught other kids how to use art to express themselves and boost their mental health, according to the report. Phaire’s mom is a former teacher who is now an early childhood professor.
Chelsea’s Charity also has a wishlist in Amazon open for people who want to donate art supplies to their cause. According to Phaire, once people donate enough materials, she fills the art kit with markers, crayons, colored pencils, gel pens, sketchpads, paper and coloring books.
Since Phaire cannot travel, she started recording messages for the kids receiving the art kit, as seen on her Instagram post on May 16. The child describes what each art kit contains in her video.
“Art is important to me because no matter how bad I’m feeling, or [whether it is] sunny or rainy, my art supplies are always there for me…,” she said. “So no matter what happens, know that art is a start.” JB
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