ALDEN, N.Y. — On a cold winter’s Tuesday outside their home in Alden, 9-year-old Adalyn Oliver and her 6-year-old sister Piper remembered the long hours they spent along with their cousins Allyson and Norah Aldrich during the past summer selling lemonade, cookies, and bracelets…all an effort to help other children.
They got the idea from their cousin Lilly, who sold ornaments to raise funds for Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester.
“We wanted to do it too, and raise money to help kids here,” Adalyn explained.
Through their efforts, the four girls raised $210 which they used to purchase three dozen Squishmallows, a popular stuffed toy.
They will deliver them to Oishei on Wednesday.
“We felt like if kids at the hospital got sick and didn’t have time to bring something of their own, they would need something to cuddle and sleep with,” said Adalyn. Piper also thought the Squishmallow would be appropriate, especially if a child needed to get a shot. “They can have a soft toy to bring with them and they can also lay on it if they want to,” she said.
The girls say their parents took them and their cousins to Five Below stores in Batavia and on Transit Road in search of the Squishmallows which, due to high demand, could be hard to find.
There were also purchase limits affixed to the popular toys. Store managers, however, worked with the girls when they were told what all the toys were being purchased for.
“They said they would make an exception,” said the girls’ mother Melissa Oliver, who said that the limit was four items per purchase.
“They agreed that if we gave each of the kid's money, then they would let us do four transactions for every kid, and four for each adult,” she explained.
The girls said they had never done anything like this before, but that the experience makes them want to raise more money to help more children.
“They can’t wait to drop them off and they’re already planning their next sales,” Mrs. Oliver said.
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