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Fundraiser deeply personal for these Metchosin friends

Lavender sale inspired by leadership camp
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Nolan Sievert and Keegan Small are selling lavender to raise money for the BC Cancer Agency as part of a project for a Global Leadership Academy youth camp. (Rick Stiebel /news Gazette staff)

Rick Stiebel/News Gazette staff

The seeds for a fundraiser with deep personal roots organized by two Metchosin teens were planted during a youth leadership camp they attended this summer.

Nolan Sievert and Keegan Small, both 16, are selling lavender from Sievert’s family property to raise money for the B.C. Cancer Agency.

It’s just one of the projects to come from the two-week Global Leadership Academy camp at Brookes School at Shawnigan Lake.

“The focus for the project is on giving back in your community community,” explained Small, who will attend Grade 11 at Belmont Secondary in September.

“My mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer on Dec. 7 and is being treated at the B.C. Cancer Agency, so we decided that would be a good way to give back. The Dream project encourages you to tie into something you’re passionate about.”

Small continued, “I really want to do this for my mom.”

Sievert added, “we share common interests and are good friends, so we decided to work on the project together.” He is documenting the project. “My passion is making video, so I’m making one chronicling the whole process,” he said. Sievert expects to complete the video within the next couple of weeks.

“I’ve been helping Nolan out with travel videos and I’m finding out I enjoy that as well,” Small noted.

It took about 10 days to harvest, dry and bundle the lavender, which they are selling in downtown Victoria for a minimum donation of $3 a bundle. They also started a Go Fund Me page July 25, which raised $170 in 17 hours.

Sievert, a former Belmont student, will attend Grade 11 in Seattle this year with the aim of working toward a career in business, possibly stock investment. Small has set his sights on becoming a commercial pilot.

If you would like to make a donation, go to gofundme.com/44w1oe8. You can also check out Sievert’s videos on YouTube by searching Nolan Sievert.

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com