The first time Cora Marbrey tried sugar scrub, she loved how slimy the skin cream felt and how smooth it made her hands after washing it off.
“Mom, please buy one of these, so I can share it with you,” Cora told her mother soon after trying the scrub.
Cora’s mother, Janell of Battle Ground, instead showed her daughter how to make her own. The crafty 5-year-old enjoyed making scrubs, using white sugar, brown sugar and oatmeal and honey to create a variety of skin-care products.
Cora and her mother decided to include some of their scrubs in Cora’s second annual Snowflake Village fundraising sale on Dec. 7, in which she sold handmade crafts and products to raise money for The Children’s Center, which offers mental health counseling and services for children and adolescents.
A little more than a year ago, Marbrey, 31, said she wanted to teach her daughter about giving back and helping others. She told Cora of a few different ways to help others, such as feeding the homeless and giving away winter clothes, and asked her how she would want to help others.
Cora said she wanted to give toys to kids who might not have them.
“They might be sad or jealous if other kids have toys and they don’t,” Cora said.
From that conversation, Cora and her mother talked about how to get toys to kids and decided on Snowflake Village. The first year, Cora and her mother made between 70 and 80 gift tags and twine wreath ornaments using mason jar lids and brown yarn. They sold out of them, bringing in about $270. Then came the fun part.
“My favorite part about it is buying the toys,” Cora said.
With the money, Marbrey took Cora toy shopping, and they purchased 27 toys for The Children’s Center. Marbrey said they bought toys in the $10 to $15 range, so as to buy as many toys as possible. She added that they let Cora pick out a few bigger toys to donate.
This year, Cora and her mom have quite a bit more shopping to do. At the second annual Snowflake Village sale, Cora made 147 items and raised $875. Part of the reason for the increase in money is because of shoppers’ generosity.
“We have much more money this year,” Cora said. “People were like, ‘Keep the change.’ They gave me more money than they were supposed to. It was pretty nice.”
But another reason for the increased total is because Cora offered a wider variety of products. In addition to gift tags and ornaments, she sold sugar scrub, soap, mugs and earrings. Marbrey said they got ideas for crafts to make by looking through Pinterest, with Cora deciding on which items to try and make.
“I mostly just supervise,” Marbrey said. “I do the packaging, but she does most of the other things. The only thing she can’t do is tie bows, so if something has a bow, I tie it. Everything else she can do.”
The two started working on everything in October, and while there were a few days Cora didn’t want to craft, she also wanted to make sure she would have enough products for everyone who wanted to buy something. Marbrey said the experience has been a good learning experience for Cora.
“She’s learned so many skills from it, not just about giving,” she said. “We talk a lot about commitment, and when you make a commitment, you have to follow through with it.”
Cora is in kindergarten, and said she likes learning about math, specifically about addition and subtraction. She said she plans on hosting her Snowflake Village sale yearly, and her mom said she’s impressed with her daughter’s dedication.
“I thought she was going to make 15 things and have, like, $20 to go buy toys,” Marbrey said. “She just keeps working and has so much fun doing it.”
Marbrey said she found out about The Children’s Center after researching local organizations that work with children, since she wanted Cora to see locally how her work can help people. She added that teaching Cora about giving at an early age was important to her and her husband.
“It was something I wanted to be a part of her life,” Marbrey said. “Learning things at a young age, it becomes part of who you are. I wanted it to be a part of her.”
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