Brayden Geerdes, 11, can be seen here with several of his gnomes for sale. Brayden has enjoyed selling his gnomes to raise funds for those in need.

FAIRMONT — 11-year-old Brayden Geerdes of Fairmont is learning that it really is better to give than to receive. In an attempt to keep busy and productive during the recent pandemic, Brayden began making and selling small, decorative, gnomes in order to pay for his own new game system. Seeing some success, he quickly decided that he wanted to help those in need.

Brayden’s mother, Jodie, shared his story.

“He’s autistic so he likes to do creative things with his hands,” she said. “So during the Covid virus we let him create, and he made these little gnomes out of socks.” She said that there was a craft show going on at the time and he asked if he could bring in some of his gnomes and try to sell them.

“He sold out within an hour and he thought that was pretty cool.” At that time his goal was to raise enough money to get a $200 gaming system, which he did.

“Later he sold some to some friends and he had quite a little business going,” she continued. “Then he was asked if he would be willing to make some more for other people, and his work got to be quite well known. Then this last year we were reading some stories about one of our friends who had lost a child and does a fundraiser called Emmalyne’s Day, and we read these stories about kids that were being helped by this fundraiser.

“He said “Mom can I make a bunch of gnomes and give them some money?” I said he could give half his profits, and he changed his mind and said he wanted to give all of his money to them. So he raised $1,500 for them.”

Jodie then shared how Brayden got involved in his latest project.

“We are with the East Chain 4-H club, and we do the Memorial Day program in East Chain. After the meeting, they were talking about trying to raise funds for the memorial markers for veterans, which is a flag holder for each of the veteran’s gravestones. They were $16 apiece and they weren’t able to raise enough money, they were about $1,000 short.

“So as a 4-H group we talked about fundraisers that we could do to help raise some money. So when I got back in the car, he said “Mom, can I sell gnomes and give them money for that?” and I said that would be fine. So he went and sold his gnomes and raised $1,000 for the Memorial Day committee so that they were able to purchase the flag holders.”

Jodie also shared that Brayden is continuing to make gnomes, as he was recently asked if he would sell gnomes for a benefit on July 10. Brayden hopes to again hit the $1,000 to support some friends, Cody and Hartley Snyder. Jodie shared that Hartley had suffered some second-degree burns due to an accident, while her father Cody has suffered from some chronic kidney problems.

If he hits his latest goal, Brayed will have raised and donated about $3,500 for other people. In addition, Brayden also takes special orders for his gnomes. Jodie shared that she is glad that he is not only helping others, but he is also effectively helping himself overcome his own challenges.

“It’s so important because he doesn’t have the social skills of talking to people,” she said. “So by going to these events, he has to talk to people and so he’s learning those social skills along with it. One of the things he said to me when he started is that he likes to make the gnomes because it makes people smile.”