Saturday was a big day for six-year-old Hannah Donnelly, from Harrison Hot Springs. She had a friend's birthday party to be at, and even got to see Santa Claus at the parade in Chilliwack.
But neither of those events could compare to what she did all morning.
For hours, Hannah manned her very own table at the Lions Christmas Craft Fair in Agassiz, selling button crafts. And all the proceeds are going to a cause that is near and dear to the young girl's heart — people starving in Somalia.
The colourful magnets and hair barrettes, made almost entirely out buttons her mom found on the internet, instantly attracted buyers.
"I sold probably 40 barrettes," she said, "and probably 17 magnets."
Retailing at an average of $1.50 each, she netted a whopping $150. That total includes all the extra donations her buyers offered. Every penny will soon go to the United Nations' World Food Programme, which is fighting to stop world hunger.
"I heard about it on the radio," Hannah said. After hearing about Somalia's troubles, she quickly tried to come up with an action plan.
First she thought she could make clay pots to sell. But that wasn't quite right.
"One day," her mother, Teresa Donnelly said, "she brought me a garbage bag of her toys and said 'let's sell this.'"
But that wasn't quite right, either. After some more brainstorming, they thought of button crafts. Donnelly bought plenty of buttons online, and they began making the barrettes and magnet.
There are plenty of items left to be sold, and anyone interested in purchasing them can visit Hannah's new website.
"My uncle Chris, he made me my own website," she said. "He's a really nice guy and he's all the way in Australia!"
That website is www.byhannah.org, and the World Food Program's site is www.wfp.org.
While Hannah is hoping to raise "nine thousand billion dollars" to send overseas, her mom said they will continue to raise money through the sales until they are all gone, and then forward the total to WFP.
"That way they can buy the food that need," Hannah said. "To eat, to stay alive."
This isn't the first brush with goodwill for Hannah. At a previous church they belonged to, Hannah and her mom would deliver bread to a lower-income neighbourhood regularly.
"She really liked that, too." Donnelly said.
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