10-Year-Old Helps Launch Diversity Library Using His Family's Garden-Fresh Lettuce
ROCHESTER (CBS) - A young Massachusetts boy is helping kids like himself… with lettuce. He and his mother found a unique solution to his frustrating situation.
"We wanted to go to a Black Lives Matter march, but we couldn't because it was a whole bunch of other people," 10-year-old Kelcey Robertson said.
But the Rochester boy, who is biracial, knew he still wanted to do something to make a difference.
"We decided to have a peaceful protest outside our house," Kelcey's mom Rhonda explained. But they didn't stop there; Kelcey wanted to do something more to benefit his community.
The solution hung right outside Kelcey's bedroom window, where they are growing a container garden filled with lots and lots of lettuce.
That sparked a fundraising idea. Rhonda knew of a local group called Tritown Against Racism, which was working to create a diversity library.
"We decided to set up a table, and lettuce, and have donations to buy books for the diversity library," Kelcey explained.
The garden-fresh lettuce was a big hit. After posting about their fundraiser on social media, plenty of people came by looking to help – and take home some lettuce.
"We got $480 just by Kelcey sitting out there."
More donations came in through Facebook, and in the end they raised $700.
The family used the money to buy books for the tri-town region. The libraries in Mattapoisett, Marion, and Rochester will each get their own set of diverse books.
"We picked books that sort of spoke to us," Rhonda said. "We picked a lot of books that were about multiracial families that had biracial children in it or children of color."
Kelcey and Rhonda said they want other biracial kids to be able to pick up a book and see themselves inside.
"He worked so hard. He has a beautiful heart and he's very giving," Rhonda said of her son. "He said he wanted to make people happy."