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Set up three organisations (supporting cancer patients, people in poverty, & promoting golf in young black girls), since she was 10.
When Olivia was just 10 years old, she learned that her mum Gini had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Olivia was desperate to help support her mum and other cancer patients. She quickly decided to set up a lemonade and cookie stand outside her house to raise money for North Shore Kellogg Cancer Centre. Olivia made pink lemonade and baked pink ribbon-shaped cookies to match the breast cancer awareness icon. Olivia’s stand was such a success that she needed more manpower to make more goods! So, she decided to write to local bakeries and ask if they would donate cookies in the shape of pink ribbons for her to sell at her stand. Olivia’s out-the-box thinking, and persuasive writing proved a great success and she was inundated with offers to help and cookies to sell. Over the next 5 years (including 2 missed years during the Covid-19 pandemic), Olivia’s lemonade and cookie stalls raised over $13,000 (about £11,000).
Olivia realised how rewarding helping people felt and that bringing smiles to other peoples’ faces brought a smile to her face too! She noticed that there were people who didn’t have enough money to pay for basic items, like toiletries, and decided to embark on a second change-making project! Olivia started making hygiene kits containing female sanitary products, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and more. She packed all the kits up herself in her living room and distributed them in churches and community centres. So far Olivia has raised $60,000 (about £50,000) to pay for the kits and has distributed 4,000 kits to people in need.
But Olivia’s change-making efforts don’t stop there! As a keen sportswoman, she noticed that not all sports are accessible to everyone. For example, she felt that golf was often associated with older and wealthy men who were usually white. Olivia noticed that she was almost always the only black girl playing golf and wanted to change that. So, Olivia collected donated golf clubs and set up a program to teach young people, especially black girls, how to play golf. Olivia bravely asked adults to come and help run the programme and convinced them of the benefits of doing so. Before long several adult members from her golf club has signed up to help mentor the kids.
Olivia’s serial change-making has been recognised by people all over the world and she has won several awards, including the Point of Light award. She is a shining example of how much young people really can do with passion, determination, and extremely good time management!
