Young Kingston artist uses talent to help homeless, veterans

by **Rockarm** Tue 29 Jan 2019, 4:01 pm

January 29, 2019

By Mike Postovit
Videographer Global News

10 year old Kingston girl helps homeless by selling Valentine cards

A Kingston youngster is using her talents to help the homeless.

Ten-year-old Lylia Essaddam is selling gnome-themed valentine cards with proceeds going to Martha’s Table, a local non-profit organization that provides low-cost nutritious meals to those in need,

She designs and paints the cards, selling for $5 apiece. Her ultimate goal is to raise more than $1,000 by February 14th.

“I’ve been there and I saw homeless and I felt really bad because they really weren’t dressed-up well,” said Essaddam. “They had ripped shirts, some of them. I know some of them are sick and they have issues.”

This is nothing new for the grade 5 student. Last December, Essaddam created 200 holiday cards with proceeds also going to Martha’s Table.

This time around, she’s doing some military-themed gnome cards that will benefit Veterans Affairs Canada’s, ‘Valentines for Vets’ project. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/get-involved/valentines-for-veterans

As for the creative process, Essaddam says that continues.

“I have so many creations,” she said. “Like one on a farm, one in a zoo and stuff like that. And sometimes I’ll do a lot of the gnomes together. I do my creations and picture what I can do in my head.”

For more on the fundraiser go to ‘Gnome for a Home’ Facebook page.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4899394/young-kingston-artist-uses-talent-to-help-homeless-veterans/