Just in time for the annual Relay for Life, junior Avery Colborn has come up with a creative new idea for a fundraiser. Aside from our well-known ceramics and face-paints, this year the OVS booth will be selling stuffed whales.
Inspired by a post on the social media platform Pinterest, Avery got the idea to make the blue little creatures out of recycled denim and other fabrics.
“I really like repurposing things,” she said. “I’ve turned t-shirts into bags and stuff, so I thought it’d be cool if I could actually make something that other people would like, out of their own materials.”
To make the whales, there is a complicated process of cutting the pieces of fabric into certain patterns, sewing them together, and stuffing them. But since the post only showed pictures and didn’t state any specific instructions, Avery needed help. So, she employed the help of her crafty grandmother, Sherre Clark.
“I called her about the project like a few months ago and she was like, ‘oh my gosh, that’d be such a good idea,” Avery said. “So, she tested one out herself and she did it.”
With that help and preparation, Avery was able to get the hang of it all, and, this past Saturday, even got a group of upper students to help her with all the sewing and stuffing.
Over the past weeks, Avery and her helpers have made about 20, which will be sold at the Relay for Life at the Buena High School in Ventura, for ten dollars per whale. The money that will be raised there will go to the American Cancer Society, but Avery was hoping to be able to sell them at some different locations, too, in order to be able to donate some money to a more environmentally-related purpose.
“I’m hoping that I can also sell other places because I want to donate it to maybe ‘Surfrider’ or ‘Heal the Ocean’,”Avery explained. “They help with watersheds and marine ecosystems and restoring and conserving them.”
Aside from being a mere fundraiser for many good causes, Avery is hoping for the whales to send a greater message to the people who make or buy them.
“I’ve always wanted to do a project that kind of focuses on sustainability and repurposing materials,” she said. “The thought just makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.”