Nine-year-old Arya helps raise $1,200 for Soup Kitchen

Nine-year-old Arya Edgar of Sault Ste. Marie is a creative young person who has combined her skill with generosity to make Christmas merrier for those in need this year. 

The St. Basil Catholic Elementary School French Immersion Grade 4 student decorated 32 Christmas-themed centre pieces and sold them at her father Dave Edgar Jr.’s business - Great Lakes Outfitters on Old Garden River Road - on Saturday, Dec. 10.

The centre pieces - 12-inch yule logs topped with holly and candles by Arya - sold for $20 each, all funds raised then matched by Great Lakes Outfitters, meaning more than $1,200 was raised for the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre.  

The logs were cut by Dave Edgar Sr., Arya’s grandather.

“It took me about three minutes to decorate each one of them. It was really fun. I love art. I like to draw pictures, I like to paint, I like to colour pictures and sometimes I create cards for people,” Arya told SooToday.

“I’m really happy to give the money to the Soup Kitchen and bring some joy to people,” Arya said.

“You should see this girl with a glue gun,” smiled dad Dave Edgar Jr.

“We put the logs down, and that’s Arya’s design. We laid it all out and we said ‘go to it.’ She started gluing and placing everything. She made me one as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and this year she said ‘I’d like to make more of them.’”

“I want to make it a tradition,” Arya said, intending to decorate and sell more yule logs for charity next Christmas.

“We’re pretty proud of her. She said she wanted to give to charity and I’m pretty proud of her,” said Arya’s father Dave.