Since the start of the pandemic, many people have found ways to give back to their community. Ten-year-old Claire Guyader is one of those people. For her, after her yard care business she started with her two friends, Rachel and Natalie, was put on hold due to COVID-19, she got creative and came up with an idea on how to raise money for the San Luis Obispo County Food Bank by creating a newsletter all about gardening and plants.
"RNC Gardening Tips and Tricks. It's got a main article, jokes and riddles, a plant of the week, and a comic," Claire said. "Since we couldn't go into people's yards this was a great way to do low contact stuff and keep our business alive."
Claire, along with her friend Rachel, is providing gardening content to neighbors in exchange for donations that go straight to the SLO County Food Bank.
"Because of COVID, there was a lot of people in need of meals, and this was a great way to give back to the community," Claire said.
Although a one-month subscription to the RNC Newsletter is just one dollar, Claire says neighbors have been generous in their donations.
Her $200 dollars raised has provided 1,400 meals for those in need, according to her mom, Brenda Guyader.
"We do 10 trial papers a week to different houses and then they email my mom or Rachel and then we start giving them newsletters," Claire said.
Brenda Guyader says she's watched as Claire and Rachel developed and executed the idea to give back in a big way.
"They came up with the concept of this newsletter and we as parents have provided the printer paper and the computer," Brenda said. "They've done everything else, we've helped with none of the content, it's all their content."
For Claire, there are no plans to stop anytime soon.
"There's so many opportunities to grow this as she grows, as she gets older as she has even more capabilities and ideas, so it's exciting to watch that process," Brenda said.
"It feels amazing," Claire said. "We worked hard, and it's finally paying off."
Monday marked the first day of KSBY's toy and food drive, Season of Hope. The San Luis Obispo County Food Bank is one of the charities that is part of Season of Hope. For details on how to donate or where to drop-off food donations, click here.
