CYNTHIANA, Ky. (LEX 18) — Everyone loves an Easter basket and 17-year-old Haley Carson loves making them.
Carson says, "This is a coloring pack. It'll be the mermaid with the fish and stingray."
The teen used her own money to make these baskets to auction off through the Clayton Arnold Foundation.
"I love to give back and I love to see people happy,” says Carson.
Money raised will help the foundation. Making these baskets hasn't been easy for Carson. She's lived with TAR Syndrome since she was born. She has bi-lateral club hands which can make the work tough. She says she can do most of anything anyone else can it's been tough getting to this point.
Carson says, "I’ve been picked on and bullied my whole life -- from school and people and I’ve looked the other way god wanted me to be born with...it's special. It's inspiring.
She says her grandparents helped her find her confidence. They recently passed away.
"If it wasn’t for them teaching me what they did, I could have been a lot different. But they taught it's good to give back,” says Carson.
Now, she wants other people to know how special they are and how they can of help too.
Carson shares, "No matter how you are, what you have, what you're born with, you can do anything you set your mind to."
Money from the Easter baskets will help the Clayton Arnold Foundation fill this trailer with Christmas toys. Its co-director, Jackie Arnold, says Carson is going to make a big difference.
"She has a big heart, a huge heart, but with her helping...taking funds out of her own money to give back...you know and that's what...not a lot of teenagers would do something like that,” says Arnold.
Here are plenty of baskets left for people to buy to help kids in this area. Carson says no amount of giving or volunteering is insignificant.
Carson says, "Even if it's not much everything still counts, every bit counts. You might not think it or feel like it don't but at the end of the day it does."
If you are interested in a basket of in helping to donate, you can visit the Clayton Arnold Foundation's Facebook page.
Carson says the baskets will be picked up and delivered the Friday before Easter.
