Jonathan Werner has always been interested in philanthropy, so he brainstormed ideas with his parents to come up with ways to help their community. His father, Steven Kolk, told Jonathan about growing up in the foster care system until being adopted at age 12, and how sad it had been not to receive gifts at Christmas.
Steven told GMA, “I was in foster care from the time that I was five…and I don’t remember my Christmases ever really being very special until after I was adopted. So having Jonathan do a project like this and knowing that where I was those years, I could have had somebody like [Jonathan], it would have been really special.”
Jonathan decided to raise money through the Boy Scout’s annual popcorn fundraiser, then use his portion of the reward money to buy gifts for children living in foster care and shelters.
The 12-year-old got right to work crafting the perfect speech about his goal for the funds. It worked, he sold $56,000 worth of popcorn for his troop! This year, just as the prior year, he used his share of the reward money to buy gifts for kids who might not otherwise get anything for the holidays.
This year, Jonathan spent more than 11 thousand dollars buying 600 presents for about 138 kids in four Minnesota counties. He worked with social workers to fulfill kids’ wishlists, along with making sure they have all the personal care necessities they need.
Jonathan says he’s happy to be able to help other children have a nice Christmas, and he has learned a lot from the process.