Brody impatiently waited while his mom typed school auction information into a computer document.
At age 5, it is often hard to wait and equally hard when you’re feeling sick and just want your mom’s attention.
“Mom, why do you have to do all this work for the auction?” Brody interrupted. His mother turned from a desk filled with stacks of notes and donation descriptions to explain to him once again how all the auction items would help raise money for Skagit Adventist Academy, their local Adventist K–12 campus in Burlington. He listened and then left the room.
His mother, VonniJo Webb, continued her auction work until Brody came back into the room toting his partially filled piggy bank jar.
“Now you can be done with your work,” Brody announced. “I want to donate my piggy bank to the auction to help you and my future school.”
When Brody’s sister, Maddisyn, came home from school that day and heard about Brody’s coin donation, she decided to do the same. As Webb recounts, the brother-sister duo “emptied the whole house and both cars of all our loose change to try and fill his jar for the school.”
Webb later shared the sweet gesture in a Facebook post that generated 55 likes, 23 comments and “Brody Matches” from inspired donors. Brody’s grandma, Joan Smith, dropped off “lots of quarters” as did other men, women and children that Brody and his mom know.
“Brody is excited every day to find more change,” Webb says.
Pat Grant, an auctioneer for the school community, was inspired by Brody’s generosity and donated $300. Scott Raines, a salesman from Ferndale who also saw the Facebook post, offered to match Brody’s original jar on the night of the auction and challenged his friends to do the same.
A local ophthalmologist, Dan Siapco, dropped off his filled coin jar at the school with the note for Brody: “Your generosity inspired me to donate my piggy bank as well. Thank you for being a cheerful giver!”
Brody’s first philanthropy venture, along with additional donated coins, yielded $2,015 at the end of the auction on Nov. 1. Additional funding came after the auction, bringing the total to $4,800. Brody’s original jar held $313.
School leaders will purchase portable staging for the school gym and phase two of the playground thanks to donated funds from the coin collection and the auction.
“Brody wanted to help me get done quicker with all my items, and now it’s grown into so much more,” Webb says. “I’m a very proud mama, and he’s pretty excited too.”
Brody Webb, 5, shows off his jar bank and the coins he initially donated to help his future school.
A little boy's act of philanthropy started with a desire to help his mom finish her work faster so she could spend more time with him.
Brody Webb's act of giving is inspiring more stories of giving.
With every coin donation, Brody Webb has a good time counting and adding to his growing coin collection.
Brody Webb's example in giving results in another donated coin jar from a local doctor.
Brody Webb fills up his coin jar ahead of the school's auction. Donors in the community matched his gift on the night of the auction.
Brody Webb's initial $313 coin collection from family and friends turned into $2,015 in donations for his future school.
