Talawanda Student Starts Her Own Charity

The civil war in Syria has inflicted hardship among millions of children who are without homes or basic necessities.

Chandler Metcalf, a Junior at Talawanda High School, has created a charity called “Stars for Syria” to help raise money to support the children of Syria. Her charity sells sunglasses, as well as other seasonal handcrafted items in the future.

All of the products that will be sold reflect the theme of the universe. “They represent seeing a brighter future, and how no matter where we come from, we all look up at the same stars,” said Metcalf.

Any money raised from the sales goes towards helping UNICEF and Save the Children’s efforts to aid the children in Syria and surrounding nations.

The idea for “Stars for Syria” came to be during a leadership seminar that Metcalf attended over the summer. “The seminar stressed a lot about doing what you are passionate about; making a goal of your own to help people and help society in any way you can,” said Metcalf.

“I went home and I thought about what issues I’m really passionate about, and what I really want to change, and one of the things I came up with was global awareness in our community,” said Metcalf. “I feel like a lot of people really aren’t aware of global issues that are going on outside of our own little border of the United States”

Currently, Metcalf is talking to a few boutiques around Oxford. The product has not officially launched yet, but will within the next week.

“Metcalf says her original goal was to raise a few hundred dollars, but has already surpassed that, raising $400.”

In the future, Metcalf hopes to sell other hand crafted goods that are galaxy related that are in season.