In the issue of August 17, The Journal noted that 11-year-old Ashcroft resident Khiara Archibald was raising funds to help fire victims, by making and selling homemade jewellery. Last week Khiara presented Ashcroft Reserve resident Mae Kirkpatrick with the $178.55 she raised.
“I really wanted to help raise money for people. I thought it was something nice to do,” says Khiara, who added that she decided to give the funds raised to Kirkpatrick after hearing how she had escaped from a burning house on the Reserve while she was babysitting.
Kirkpatrick says she was at the house with one of her daughters and four grandchildren on July 7 when she saw the smoke and fire and called 9-1-1. “The fire was flying, and it scared me,” she says. “I said ‘Let’s get the kids out of here.’ The first thing I thought about was those kids.”
Kirkpatrick heard on August 22 that Khiara had decided to give her the money that had had been raised from the jewellery sales. “It’s amazing,” she says, “for this little girl to go out and do something like this.”
Khiara is now raising funds—via a lemonade and iced tea stand—to help the Ashcroft and Cache Creek Volunteer Fire Departments purchase generators. Watch this space for more updates.