9 Year old boy from Tuscon sells toys to raise money for Giffords

Nine-year-old Isaac Saldana of Tucson, Ariz., was so upset when he heard about the shootings in his hometown that he felt compelled to do something in response.

"Me and my brother were about to go walk the dog when we saw them saying on TV that a little girl and Gabrielle Giffords got shot," he told HuffPost. "I just thought, whoa! I didn't know that people carry around guns here in Tucson. It scared me a little."

Saldana said he decided the best way to help would be to gather some of his toys from home, as well as a bracelet his father had brought him after one his deployments as a U.S. Marine, and sell them at school to raise money for Giffords.

"I felt really bad about Gabrielle being in the hospital and getting shot, so I just wanted to help her," he said.

After raising a total of $2.85, Saldana put the money into an envelope with a get-well card and mailed it to Giffords' hospital room. His mother, Aracely Saldana, said she had no idea what he was up to.

"I didn't even know what was going on," she told HuffPost. "I received an email from his teacher saying she just wanted to give me a heads-up that she caught him in class selling toys, so she took his backpack away later that day. I asked him what was going on and he told me the reason he was doing it was that he was trying to raise money to send to Gabrielle."

Aracely Saldana, 30, said that when she learned her son had raised the money and mailed it to Giffords without her knowing, she was so touched that she teared up.

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apdst said:

I hope he has a license.

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RightinNYC said:

"Aracely Saldana, 30, said that when she learned her son had raised the money and mailed it to Giffords without her knowing, she was so touched that she teared up and immediately called local newspapers in order to have everyone learn about her amazing special flower of a child who acted like many children do from time to time."

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