Marlton boy makes bracelets to raise money for animals

Some kids spend their spring and Easter break relaxing. Others go on vacation with their families.

At 9 years old, Marlton resident Joshua Guirguis decided to spend some of his time off from school figuring out a way to raise money for animals.

Guirguis loves animals, but currently his family isn’t in a position to have a pet.

And since Guirguis can’t have an animal of his own, he decided the next best thing was to help the animals at the Animal Welfare Association in Voorhees instead.

Using a bracelet assembly kit he got last year, Guirguis got to work on his break creating bracelets he could then sell at the Tanglewood-Delancey Community Yard Sale on April 26 to raise money for the AWA.

Guirguis said he got the idea from a friend across the street who was going to raise money for a charity, and he just thought making the bracelets was something easy that he could do.

“I liked them because they were colorful and the design was cool,” Guirguis said. “They were all mostly designed different. I just like that I can make it in a creative way that we can create any color that we want.”

Guirguis’ mom Lisa said her son has always had a passion for animals, and since her mom has a dog and lives only a short distance away, Guirguis has had plenty of up-close experience.

“Their dog is 11 years old so he’s pretty much gown up with it,” Guirguis said. “He helps take her for a walk, and when we go on vacation it comes with us and he helps feed it dinner and so he’s pretty much been around my moms dog since he was born.”

Leading up to the sale, Lisa said her son used old magazines to design a poster for his sale asking people to buy the bracelets or just donate money for the AWA directly.

“I said ‘I can help you’ and I went and did laundry and when I got back he had most of the poster already done. He just kind of ran with it. For that reason, I wanted to be supportive.”

On the day of the sale, Guirguis was up and dressed earlier than his mom had ever seen.

After setting up his table, Guirguis stayed there the entire day. He said it was fun interacting with all the different people who came by him.

“I like selling and meeting people and getting business,” Guirguis said. “We didn’t convince them. Some walked up and said it looked cool and bought them. Some just gave a donation.”

With the end of sale, Guirguis sold 15 of his bracelets and together with the donations he received raised more than $50 for the AWA.

Lisa said the experience was positive not just for the animals, but for her son’s confidence as well.

“It got some people just talking to us about their animals too,” Lisa said. “It just struck up a conversation. A lot of people have animals and it was just a nice way for him to strike up a conversation with people.”

Guirguis thanks everyone who bought a bracelet or donated, and hopes people continue to support animal shelters.

“People abandon them and they don’t want to care for them anymore and it’s too much for them,” Guirguis said. “Give it to the animal shelter. They keep the dogs until someone adopts them.”