Connecticut girl sends more than 1,500 art kits to kids in shelters and foster care

Chelsea Phaire has one goal: to make art available to everyone.

The 10-year-old from Danbury, Connecticut, launched Chelsea's Charity so she could send crayons, colored pencils, markers, gel pens, paper, and coloring books to kids in homeless shelters and foster care. Two years ago, Phaire witnessed gun violence, and began to use art as therapy. It helped her so much that she wanted to share the experience with other kids going through trauma.

Phaire launched her charity last August on her birthday, asking friends to donate art supplies in lieu of presents. With those materials, she was able to put together 40 art kits for a homeless shelter in New York. She set up an Amazon wishlist so people from around the country could donate items, and in the first five months of her charity, Phaire distributed nearly 1,000 kits.

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Prior to the pandemic, Phaire and her mom would meet with the kids receiving the art kits, but now they are sending the supplies instead. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Chelsea's Charity has sent more than 1,500 kits out to children in 12 states. "I feel good inside knowing how happy they are when they get their art kits," Phaire told CNN. "I have definitely grown as a person because of this. Now my dream is to meet every kid in the entire world and give them art. Who knows, maybe if we do that and then our kids do that, we'll have world peace." Catherine Garcia