11 year-old Keegan Kelly spent his summer vacation making a big difference.  Wise beyond his years, Keegan is helping the planet one step at a time. This is Keegan’s giving story, written in his own words.

I did an online fundraiser because I wanted to walk 100 miles to raise money for the environment and to show people how easy it is to walk to school, work, stores or anywhere else in a radius less than a few miles.

This matters to me because if we burn less gas we can help protect the environment and leave clean air to breathe for future generations. I chose to fundraise for the David Suzuki Foundation because they were an organization I knew about who works towards this cause. After I told my mom my idea, she sent an email to the David Suzuki Foundation and they told us about CanadaHelps. It was really easy to set up my fundraising page on canadahelps.org. I did it all by myself (besides some spelling mistakes that my mom fixed after I finished it) and anybody could do it (except maybe a 3 year old like my little brother).

To spread the word about my walk and the fundraiser I told people I knew, like my teachers and classmates at school and I set up a Facebook page and my parents shared it with all their friends. Soon, one of their friends who is a reporter for the CBC liked my Facebook page and wanted to do an interview. Next, a reporter from our newspaper was interested. I was nervous about all the attention, but I knew it would help get my message out. That was hard, but so was all the planning we had to do, because the planning was a bit boring. Thankfully, my mom and Grammie and a few of their friends helped with the planning and my mom and dad agreed to walk with me.

It took me five days from Fredericton to my Nanna’s house in Sussex. My mom walked the whole way and my dad (who lives in Alberta) walked from Sussex after he got to New Brunswick to meet us on the 4^th day and walk back to Nanna’s with us. On the way I stayed with my great aunt in Burton, at the Lazy Farmer Hostel in Gagetown (where I got high fives from a dog named Beans), the Evandale Resort Hotel and Evelyn’s Bed and Breakfast in Bloomfield.  My favourite part of the walk was meeting up with my dad. My favourite thing I saw was Bull Paddy Cove where we stopped for a rest (see picture). It was really peaceful there.

In the end I raised $2440! Thank you to everyone who helped us and made donations! I was ready for the walk to end when it did, because I was sore and tired, but I’m glad that I did it.

To learn more about the David Suzuki Foundation, visit their Charity Profile Page>>
To get started on a fundraiser of your own using CanadaHelps, visit our fundraising information page >>

Updated on November 1, 2024