Pandas and Anya Audette-Sekdorian go way back?well, at least to the second grade, when the now nine-year-old did a project on the furry bamboo fiend and discovered it was an endangered species. From that point on she felt compelled to research other animals at risk and do what she could to help save them. Thankfully, pandas have since been taken off the endangered list. We?d like to think Anya had a little something to do with that.
For the past three years, Anya has entered the WWF?s Kids Run for Nature, a fund-raising fun run for the World Wildlife Fund, created by two 10-year-old kids from her Riverdale community, in Toronto, which now takes place at several locations across Canada. But, being something of a go-getter, Anya wasn?t content with merely asking people for sponsor money. Each time, she plastered her neighbourhood with handwritten signs complete with eye-catching pictures of tigers and giant hearts. And the day before the run, she set up a lemonade stand (with homemade awareness-raising banner) in her driveway, selling drinks and homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to multiply her fundraising potential. Photo: Signe Langford
In just three hours, on a fortuitously hot Saturday morning this year, she poured 45 glasses of lemonade, sold 72 freshly baked cookies, and raised $98.75 for the WWF. The next day, she added an additional $10 (well, Mom did) to participate with her family in the 1K fun run.
Now that might seem like a modest sum in the face of a global...