Chelsea’s Charity

In 2019, at the age of ten, Chelsea Phaire founded Chelsea’s Charity, a non-profit organization dedicated to distributing art supplies to kids who might not otherwise have access to them. It all started when she decided to forgo having an average birthday party and instead, asked all her guests to donate art supplies so she could put together boxes of crayons, markers, glue sticks, coloring books, and the like to pass out.

Chelsea knew that the world had become a stressful place, especially in the face of the Covid-19 virus, and she couldn’t fathom the idea of people not having a creative outlet as an escape. Her first batch of art boxes were distributed to over forty children in a nearby homeless shelter, but she didn’t stop there. As the organization has grown it has successfully distributed over 20,000 art kits to kids in foster care, hospitals and to children who have been subject to traumatizing events. In addition to the art kits, Chelsea also provides drawing lessons tailored to her audience so they can utilize their equipment.

In the early days of the charity, Chelsea would scrape together any money she had, be it from the tooth fairy or Christmas, and her parents would match the amount to help cover supply costs, but now, through the Chelsea’s Charity website, anyone is able to donate to the cause. The resulting kits are both personally handed out by Chelsea and her family and mailed out, but more uniquely, Chelsea has begun establishing what she calls art cabinets. These cabinets resemble the small give and take libraries you occasionally see, except they are filled with art supplies free for anyone to use.

Chelsea encourages everyone, regardless of age, to identify needs around them and step up to help make the world a better place.