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INUVIK
Be kind to others, and always try to help those who cannot help themselves.

Colin Mitchener, standing, poses with his birthday cupcakes at his party. Mitchener, who turned nine on April 27, is giving away half of his birthday money to charity for the second year in a row. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

These are lessons parents work to instill in their children and often, the younger these morals are learned, the more they stick later in life. That premise led Inuvik mother Johanna Mitchener to encourage her young son Colin to think about how gifts given to him for his birthday could be used for more than buying toys.

For the past two years, Colin has asked those who attend his birthday party for money instead of gifts – and has donated half of this money to charity.

"For the birthday party, we asked on the invitations that the kids that come each bring $20," said Johanna. "So half of it goes to Colin and half of it goes to whoever he chooses – the charity of his choice."

Since Colin was turning nine years old, he had nine friends over for his party. This means that he raised $90 for the Children First Society just by turning a year older.

The family moved to Inuvik last fall from Vancouver Island. For his eighth birthday, Colin gave half of his gift money to Cops for Cancer, a popular charity on the West Coast.

Johanna, who was born and raised in Inuvik, knows firsthand how difficult it can be to find childcare here. Currently, she only works part-time so that she can care for Colin and his six-year-old sister Livea before and after school.

"It's difficult as a working parent to find child care for your children," said Johanna. "This is just a little thing. It's not a lot of money but, you know, it helps."

Johanna said that she hopes that encouraging her son to give part of his birthday money to charity will teach him about giving back to the community, and to appreciate what he is given and choose what he will spend his money on wisely.

"He doesn't really need anything, right? So this way, he can save up for something that he really would like," she said.

Colin told Inuvik Drum that he doesn't mind giving away half of his birthday money. He said he likes the feeling of giving his birthday money to charity "because it's nice." When prompted for more descriptive words of how giving the money away made him feel, Colin came up with the words "happy," "nice" and "proud."

This year, Colin's mom picked out three different Inuvik-based charities and asked Colin to choose which one he wanted to support.

Colin said he chose Children First Society because he wants to help kids like him.

The society's current project – the building of the Children's First Centre – is well underway, but more funds are needed to finish the centre that will serve as the only early-childhood care centre in the community once Sir Alexander Mackenzie School closes this summer.

"I think it shows a strong character in Colin to share his gift, to support our project to better our community," said Melinda Gillis, the brand-new chair of the Children First Society. "I think it's kind of cool that a child can think outside of himself to think of others."

Gillis said that she hopes this will draw attention to the importance of local charity and raise awareness among all community members – young and old – about the importance of doing what you can to support projects that can benefit everyone.

"I hope that Colin doing this will bring more attention toward this project's needs in community support. And I think for such a little guy, that's such a big step for him to make," said Gillis. "When it comes from someone little, it's almost like it's louder."

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