A wonderful offer

Melissa Hamelin
Mayerthorpe, Alberta, Canadaz, Monday December 10, 2007

http://www.mayerthorpefreelancer.com/News/360869.html


Rachel Wiebe may not be the youngest entrepreneur in history, but she is certainly the sweetest.

Rachel was trying to come up with a way to help her Granny, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, when she came up with a plan to combine her love of drawing with her love of her Granny.

Rachel’s mother, Mary, was caught off guard by Rachel’s idea at first.

“She came up to me, I was washing dishes, and she said. ‘Mom, do you have any wood?’ ” Wiebe recalled. “I asked what she needed the wood for and she said that she wanted to build a store. I asked her what she needed a store for and she said that she wanted to draw pictures and sell them so that she could raise money for Parkinson’s.”

Although Rachel’s mother did not have enough wood on hand to build a store, Rachel was not discouraged; instead she decided to move forward with a little help from her friends.

“We were actually just sitting around talking and I said, ‘are there people that we need to get in contact with?’ And she said, ‘Mrs. Fischer.’ That kind of surprised me because I thought, what does Mrs. Fischer have to do with this?” recalled Wiebe.

“She has a wood store,” piped in Tara Fischer, owner of Connor Creek Collection, who said she was all for the idea. Fischer has agreed to allow Rachel to display and ‘sell’ her pictures, which are available by donation, at her store.

“I love Rachel and I think, for her to come up with an idea like that at her age, how to raise money for a cause like this to help her Granny, I think it is amazing. I think it is a real testament about the heart that this little girl has.”

Rachel told her grandmother about the plan and said that her she thinks her Granny is happy and proud of what she is doing.

Although Rachel has a talent for many different types of art, she has chosen to concentrate on stained glass-style photos, which will all have a personal message from Rachel on the back, describing what she is doing for her Granny.

Rachel said that she hopes that people may pick up a picture and maybe will learn a little more about the disease that currently has no cure. She will be volunteering to work in the store after school to help sell her pictures on December 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20th, and 21st.

“They would make a great holiday gift,” she said.