Go to the homepage for the Sylva Herald and Ruralite

8-year-old sells hot chocolate to buy toys for other children

By Rose Hooper
8-year-old Katie Stafford

Selling hot chocolate for 50 cents a cup at the Dillsboro Luminaires, 8-year-old Katie Stafford raised $170 to buy toys for local children in need.

During the cold, nighttime temperatures of the Dillsboro Luminaires, many visitors warmed their hands and bodies with Katie Stafford's hot chocolate. But 8-year-old Katie's story will warm your heart this Christmas.

In the days approaching before Christmas, when all most children can think about is what they want Santa to bring them, little Katie was raising money to buy toys for children Santa might overlook. "I heard about some kids who might not get toys for Christmas, so I decided to buy some for them," said Katie, who turned 8 the day after Thanksgiving.
8-year-old Katie Stafford With only a pocketful of change to her name, Katie knew she'd have to raise money -fast. Since she had helped her mom at the Cheddar Box in Dillsboro, Katie understood the concept of retail. If you have a unique product people want and price it reasonably, they will buy it.

But what product does an 8-year-old girl have to sell, this daughter of Huey and Sue Stafford of Whittier pondered. What about her own personal favorite wintertime treat -hot chocolate? It's easy to make, and Katie is a pro at it. And she couldn't think of anybody else nearby who would be selling hot chocolate at night.
Her mom agreed the idea was perfect, and so was the timing with the luminaires. Suggesting they also sell cookies, her mom helped her daughter bake "dozens and dozens" of Reese's peanut butter cookies, Katie's personal favorite.

Katie made a sign and set up a little wooden table right outside her mom's shop. As the night grew darker and colder, she put on her "big fat coat and red Tweety Bird gloves. But when somebody would buy hot chocolate, I had to take my gloves off to push the (thermos) nozzle," this young entrepreneur explained.

"And when I got real cold, I would drink some to keep warm, but I put in 50 cents for each cup I drank," said this second-grader at Smokey Mountain Elementary. Selling hot chocolate for 50 cents and cookies for 25 cents, Katie raised $170 during the four nights of Dillsboro's Luminaires.

Katie took that $170 to Wal-Mart and bought toys -"a shopping cart full, so full stuff kept falling out of the cart," she said.

"I bought toys for kids older than me, for those younger than me and for those my own age," said Katie, who purchased toys she would have liked to receive. "I thought if they were toys I would like to have, other children might like to have them, too."

Her selection included a doctor set, Barbies and Ken, cosmetic sets, footballs, and an ABC Tutor. "When I got the ABC Tutor in the car, it kept saying, 'Turn me off, turn me off,' but I couldn't," she said .

"I think Katie got more fun out of buying all those presents than she would have from receiving them," her mother said. Mother and daughter took their stash to Whittier United Methodist Church, adding to the church's already large collection of Toys for Tots.

"We had the biggest wrapping party," Katie said. As a project of the church's outreach committee, all the toys will be distributed locally to families in need. Because of her heartwarming generosity and caring Christmas spirit, Katie was named the youngest member of that outreach committee. Katie had so much fun this year with her project that she's already talking about doing it again next Christmas.

"I really like Christmas," she said, "because that's the day Jesus was born."

Back to Archive: 12-23-99.