This 12-Year-Old Has Handmade Over 800 Stuffed Animals for Sick Children

Kindness is truly an inherent part of human nature. It can come from anyone, of any age from anywhere in the world.

Campbell Remess, a 12-year-old boy from Hobart, Tasmania exemplifies that concept of kindness. Three years ago, the then 9-year-old boy asked his parents if there was anyway he could buy Christmas presents for sick children. When his parents gently refused, citing financial concerns, the undaunted boy decided to make presents instead.

Remess found a pattern for a stuffed animal online, and with some initial help of his mother, got started sewing.

In an email to Today the boy explained, “I had a pattern and wanted to make it and I knew I could do it if I practiced. Mum told me ‘Just don’t sew your finger,’ but I’ve done that a few times and once all the way through.”

After only a few hours of work, the first bear was completed, garnering a happy reaction from the boy’s mother, Sonya Whittaker. “I was blown away by the first bear. Overly impressed and totally in awe but not surprised at his persistence to teach himself.”

As time went on and his skills improved, Remess decided to officially launch a charity dedicated to making stuffed toys for sick children. Calling his organization Project 365 by Campbell, Remess depends on donated money and materials to make his stuffed animals. He uses donated fabric to make stuffed bears and other animals, all of which are personalized with the sick child’s name.

Remess recently entered the news cycle after he made toys for children who lost their parents when a ride overturned at Australia’s Dreamworld theme park.

Whittaker expressed pride in her son to Today, saying, “I literally shake with emotion — it’s an incredible thing to witness. One small idea, one small gesture can make huge impacts.”

She went to discuss her son’s future. “He’s not a quitter—I only see bigger and brighter things for him.”

For those interesting in donating to Project 365, information can be found here.