Gabriel Clark found a way to combine his woodworking skills with his sense of philanthropy.
The 12-year-old lives in Cumbria, England, and has been making bowls and other objects since he first picked up his grandfather's hammer as a young child. Clark spends hours a day on his creations, which he has been selling to raise money for a mountain bike. His dad, television and film director Richard Clark, tweeted about his son's bowls and shared his Instagram account, and soon the tween had thousands of new followers and orders.
With all this attention now on him, Gabriel decided to make a bowl to raffle off, with all donations going to Save the Children to help kids in Ukraine. The bowl had blue and yellow rings, as a nod to the Ukrainian flag, and Gabriel's initial goal was to raise £5,000 ($6,378). He surpassed that number almost immediately, and as of Monday, he has raised £255,000 ($325,217). The raffle winner was announced last weekend, but donations continued to come in.
Gabriel told BBC News he was "blown away" by the response, and the money will be used by Save the Children to "provide more support to kids who've been impacted by the conflict with things like food, water, a safe place to sleep." His decision to help other kids in need came as no surprise to his mom, Teresa McCann Clark, who told People: "The main thing about Gabriel, he's got a really, really big heart. He's talented, he's creative, but more than anything, he's got a big heart."