Young Island artist auctions work to benefit family violence prevention
Malcolm Campbell | CBC News | Posted: February 16, 2017 10:00 PM | Last Updated: February 16, 2017
10-year-old Roisin Mullen also plans to donate toys to emergency shelter for women
10-year-old Roisin Mullen is partnering with Charlottetown restaurant The Thoughtful Squash to auction off a painting to raise funds for programs that support family violence prevention.
Roisin and her mother, Heather Mullen, were showing some of Roisin's artwork to Cathy McInnes, the restaurant's owner and a family friend, when McInnes had the idea to sell one of her paintings to raise funds.
A quick learner
Though Roisin didn't know what family violence was at first, she became interested in helping after a conversation with her mother.
"We talked about the helpers and who's out there and what happens when you're in those situations," said Heather.
The two also visited the office of the Council on the Status of Women so Roisin could learn more about the impact of domestic abuse.
"When children are raised in that type of way they don't always know that it's not okay to do that," Roisin said.
"When they grow up they might do it to their kids."
Community Minded
Roisin is no stranger to helping others. She started the Post-It Positive initiative, helping to spread messages of positivity online and teaching kids about being safe on the internet.
She was also a featured speaker at the Global StopCyberbullying Youth Summit in Ireland in 2015.
She has continued her work in the community, most recently partnering with a friend to make and sell crafts, using the proceeds to buy food for a local soup kitchen.
"It started as helping kids learn about cyberbullying and educating children to learn about how to be safe online," Heather said. "But now it's growing into other ways to share that you care and help in your community, in the way that a ten-year-old can."
Helping in the future
Roisin says she wants to be a counsellor when she gets older to keep helping people who need it.
In addition to the proceeds from the auction, which will go to programs supporting family violence prevention, Roisin wants to donate toys to Anderson House, an emergency shelter for women and children facing domestic abuse.
The date of the auction will be set when Roisin finishes the painting, which is nearly complete.
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