With their trusty cart by their side, Ashton and Gabe (absent) will be raising money to buy toys for sick kids this Christmas. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
For many kids Christmas is a time of joy as they wait patiently for Santa to arrive and then get up as early as possible to unwrap the toy they’ve been dreaming about all year.
For others who are less fortunate it can be a difficult and confusing time.
This year, local heroes Ashton (4) and his brother Gabe (7) will be doing their best to make sure Wagga kids who are less fortunate receive at least one toy this Christmas.
For the past six weeks, Ashton and Gabe, armed with their now iconic bike and cart, have been travelling around town, collecting cans and depositing them for 10 cents each.
Since starting their new endeavour, the pair have already saved more than $500, with the goal of eventually visiting Japan and buying a Nintendo Switch 2.
However, starting next week, they’ll put those goals aside and instead use the money raised from the cans to buy toys for kids this Christmas.
“For the last week of November and the first week of December, all the cans that the boys collect will go straight towards buying toys for kids in need and kids in the hospital,” mum Jett Annear said.
“The boys have been collecting for around six weeks now, and we now have a few regulars who save up their cans for a week or two.
“They’ll see Ashton on his bike and they’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, I better give him my cans next time I see him!’
“It’s been really nice to see the community really help the boys. Since they started, they’ve collected over 5000 cans, which is insane.”
Ashton and Gabe fill more than six bins a week. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
While Ashton said he would really like to travel to Japan to visit Mario and Luigi at Universal Studios, he said it was important other kids got toys for Christmas too.
“For Christmas, I would like some small LEGO,” he said.
“Other kids really like LEGO as well; we’re helping to make sure they can have some too.”
Ashton said he was excited for Santa’s visit and he hoped other kids would get some presents as well.
Ms Annear said the process of gathering cans had been a very good lesson for her boys, as it had taught them the importance of earning what they wanted.
“It’s ridiculous; they’re earning more in two weeks than I would at my job,” Ms Annear joked.
“In all seriousness, it has been really good for the boys. They’ve learnt that if they want something, they can’t just ask mum and dad to buy it. They have to earn it.
“Now, over the next two weeks, it’s been really nice to see that they’re willing to give some of their money to kids who aren’t able to get some of the things they have.
“Money doesn’t grow on trees, and they’re really starting to learn that and now they’re learning about how to pass that fortune forward.”
Ms Annear said that while the boys continued to raise money, she would be researching how to donate the money to a charity or cause that would go to kids in Wagga.
“We want it to stay locally,” she said.
“We’d prefer that it stays within the Riverina and preferably to local kids in hospital or who are doing it rough.”
If you would like to help Ashton and Gabe raise money by donating your cans, be sure to reach out to them by sending a message to their Facebook page: Ashton & Gabe’s Can-Tastic crew.
