FALL RIVER: Since the age of four, Sarah MacDonald-Miles has been wanting to run her own business.
Now at 14-years-old, the Fall River girl is doing that through Links of Love and Share the Warmth, which aims to help support a variety of charities from the Brunswick Street; SPCA; Feed N.S.; and Homebridge Youth just to name a few.
VIDEO: Sarah talks about Links of Love
At age four, she asked her mom Vivian one day if she could help replace the toys at the campground in Nine Mile River they were staying at after high water and floods destroyed the ones that were in the sandbox. Her mom obliged, and little Sarah setup a lemonade stand.
Flash forward 10 years, and MacDonald-Miles—a student at Lockview High—is giving back even more by being an entrepreneur through Links of Love. In Grade four, Sarah made a sign and on the H of her name she wrote that she wanted to run her own business.
Now she’s combining her passions of running her own business and helping others less fortunate.
”I like helping people,I like helping the animals,” said MacDonald-Miles. “I keep picking the SPCA as one of the charities because of that and wanting to help the animals. My main motivation is to help people.”
She said she sees the bracelets as a link—if everyone has a link it binds everyone together.
“One link is not as strong as a chain, so when you put them all together it makes it a chain and a chain is stronger than a link,” said MacDonald-Miles.
The Lockview High student said the demand for the bracelets is growing since the launch of the linksoflove.ca website. That’s more than what they received with just their Facebook page Share the Warmth.
She explained the selection of the charities.
“I picked the SPCA; mom picked MADD; I knew Homebridge from Me to We at GP Vanier last year; and my dad picked Feed Nova Scotia, and we picked Brunswick Street Mission through Share the Warmth,” said MacDonald-Miles.
MacDonald-Miles said she is so grateful for the support from people.
“I love seeing how it’s growing and how people are sharing and want to help out,” she said.
She comes home from school, does any homework she has to do and then gets to work at filling the orders of Links of Love bracelets. There’s been bracelets shipped to Calgary and even to Florida.
“It’s an every day thing, I get home and go to work making the bracelets,” she said. “I love doing it.”
Links for Love is off to the Lavender Festival in Seafoam to sell; the Mineville market a group of female entrepreneurs in the Annapolis Valley in November; Dean’s Flowers (Holly Winchester); and the Village Gift Shop in Tatamagouche is going to be selling the bracelets at their shop.
“It’s getting out there,” said MacDonald-Miles. “It’s crazy to think how much it has taken off. I’m just in so awe of the support.”
Is a career as an entrepreneur possible down the road?
“Yeah I could see me doing that,” said MacDonald-Miles with a smile.
To support her, check out their Share the Warmth Facebook page; and the Links of Love website www.linksoflove.ca.
