Young Philanthropists Use Business to Give to the Feed Framingham Fund

No one is ever too young to begin their philanthropic pursuits. Covid-19 inspired some of our youth neighbors to give back in a way they had not thought about before. After learning about the Foundation for MetroWest’s Feed Framingham Fund through one of their customers and neighbors, Eliza Marion, Avery Marion and Sinead Ojha, all 11 years old and students in the town of Holliston, turned their entrepreneurial pursuit into a philanthropic effort.

Starting the Business and Giving Back

Quarantine Creations is a mask company started in Sinead’s house after the girls were allowed to safely see one another during the pandemic. It quickly grew into a neighborhood staple with multiple fabrics and two designs to choose from. Instead of keeping the profit for themselves, however, they knew they wanted to give back to their communities in a meaningful way. The girls truly understand the challenges many of their closest neighbors face due to the ongoing pandemic.

“Our neighbor, who’s a nurse at Newton-Wellesley Hospital ordered one of our masks, and we asked her if there were any nonprofits she knew of that we could donate the profit from Quarantine Creations to,” said Eliza Marion. “She gave us a few and after researching all of them, we decided to go with the Foundation for MetroWest because it fit the best with what we wanted to do.”

Making Masks in their Free Time

Once school ended and their parents allowed them to expand their Covid bubble, the girls used their free time over the summer to delve into the world of entrepreneurship. Sinead, who’d already had experience sewing, taught the Marion sisters her craft, and together they made masks for Quarantine Creations.

“Over the summer, we would go to camp for half of the day and in the afternoon, we would go right to Sinead’s house and start sewing masks for our new orders,” said Avery Marion. “We would work on making masks together, but we also had our own orders to focus on.”

While the girls are unsure of the exact number of masks they’ve made and sold, they know for sure their customer-base primarily consists of their neighbors, families and close friends. They tried their best to keep orders at a manageable level, but the flyers and word of mouth in their neighborhood showed just how popular their creations are. This network of customers has shown an overwhelming amount of support to their business.

Moving Forward with Quarantine Creations

The girls paused Quarantine Creations once the school year began to focus on other extracurricular activities and their studies, but are eager to start back up once they get a break for the winter holidays.

“I’ve never really done anything like this, and it’s been such a fun experience,” said Sinead Ojha. “One of the things I’ve learned from this is you can’t take more orders than what you can actually do.”

When asked the biggest piece of advice they would give to others who are looking to give back in their community, the girls had some words.

“Find something that you’re good at and don’t take on more than you can handle,” said Eliza Marion.  “I think that’s really important and something that’s helped us in our business and being able to give back.”

Inspiring Others to Give Back 

Since making their donation, Eliza, Avery and Sinead have inspired a couple donor matches. As they look forward to the holidays and potentially restarting Quarantine Creations, they are excited to be able to continue helping the community—both with providing masks and philanthropically.

To support Quarantine Creations and order a mask, email [email protected]

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