Forging ahead to help the ALS cause
Glace Bay teen won’t let social media trolls stop fundraising goal
Jayden Green isn’t discouraged, despite social media trolls claiming he’s fraudulent.
The 16-year-old entrepreneur has been raising money for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Society of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia since he was eight, part of the group Mary RoyALS Cause.
“If I was to find out right now there was an ALS fundraiser tomorrow, I would drop everything and go. It’s a part of my life now,” said Green.
Wanting to have one last fundraiser for the group before 2018 ends, Green decided to hold a raffle draw. The owner of JayG Electronics had android boxes in stock and decided to donate one as the prize.
Tickets have been for sale since October and the draw is Dec. 16 at the weekly Sydney flea market where Green sells his electronics and where the ALS flea market table is also set up.
Things were going well until Dec. 3. That’s when Green got a message from a friend about something they saw online – a screen shot from a post on the Facebook Group Cape Breton Confessions 2. The poster anonymously claimed someone is selling tickets on an android box for charity and pocketing the money.
Both Green and the friend who sent him the screengrab believe the message is about Green because they don’t know of any other raffle draws like this happening in the area.
“It made me angry,” he said. “It’s more the image it’s going to give. It looks really bad to the people online … It would have a negative effect on anybody … even an adult.”
Green worries the negative comments could affect his online reputation and that of his business. Gross revenues for JayG Electronics have grown to between $1,500 and $2,000 monthly and the majority of sales and operations are done online.
Kimberly Carter is president and CEO of the ALS Society of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. She said she knows Green well, is aware he fundraises like this locally and estimates Green and his team have raised more than $100,000 to date.
In 2016, the Grade 10 Glace Bay High student won the ALS Society’s youth volunteer of the year award. Carter also praised Green, who is a member of band at his school, for his dedication to the weekly ALS flea market table over the past eight years.
“He really is an amazing young man and it hasn’t stopped since he became a busy teenager. He really has a heart for volunteering and philanthropy,” she said.
“We really appreciate all of his efforts. Jayden has really made an impact on the lives of people with ALS.”
Green doesn’t think his charity work will suffer because of his growing business, which he launched in August after many rejections from employers because Green was only 15.
“I was trying to find some ways on how to make money… through an online store. I was Googling and eventually I came across Shopify,” he said.
“I searched Shopify Dropshipping and watched a bunch of YouTube videos on it. Then I started a trial and found a love for it.”
While most of JayG Electronics sales are online, Green said he does sell his products locally to friends at school and at the weekly flea market.
“I know this sounds weird but somehow doing this I’m less busy. Instead of going out to a job, this allows me to be anywhere and I can (run my business ) … I can do a sale on my phone.”