Charlottetown boy exceeds fundraising goal to buy Christmas gifts for other children

Eleven-year-old Liam Bourque was devastated when he found out not every kid has the same kind of Christmas that he does.

With the help of his mom, Billie-Jean, he launched a campaign called Making Spirits Bright in order to raise money for Santa's Angels, a group of volunteers who carry out surprise Christmas morning visits to families across the Island.

"I got the idea when I learned that some kids don't have the basic necessities or even a gift to open," Liam said. 

"I just really felt like I could feel how they're feeling in a way. I knew that it can't feel good, so I wanted to try and at least bring a bit of joy to their Christmas."

Some days I literally cried of joy on how much we raised.— Liam Bourque

'It makes me feel wonderful'

The campaign launched with a video on Billie-Jean's Facebook page, asking those interested to e-transfer Liam their donation so he could bring it to the organization.

"A lot of people seemed to like it and donate. In the first night I was able to get more than $1,000 in the first six hours," he said.

Liam originally wanted to organize the fundraiser through his school, but he realized that COVID would make that difficult. Instead, he decided an online approach would allow him to broaden the reach to more people.

The decision paid off. Liam wanted to raise $1,500 — a goal he met on Monday. By Tuesday evening, he had raised $1,600.

"It makes me feel wonderful," Liam said after learning he had reached his goal.  

"Some days I literally cried of joy on how much we raised.

"I'm really happy about what the community did and how it's helping out one another."

And the donations didn't stop there. Over $500 has also been donated to Santa's Angels in the name of Liam's campaign, including a family who reached out to Billie-Jean to say they were donating instead of giving gifts to each other, inspired by Liam.

"We're really proud of him. Around Christmastime, sometimes parents get asked hard questions and our main focus was that Liam knew the spirit of Christmas and the meaning behind giving to others," Billie-Jean said.

"He just really embodied it by knowing that, you know, sometimes parents and caregivers and stuff aren't able to provide those, even basic, necessities. Like he said, imagine a child waking up and not having a gift under the tree."

Overall, Liam said he's so glad to have been able to help other children.

"I think this could be a tradition for me," he said.

"To help bring joy to people's Christmas every year."

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