BOISE, Idaho — An 11-year-old Boise boy is raising awareness -- and money -- to help build homes for people in need.
Ollie Andrus is like most kids; he thinks outside the box.
In fact, his mom says he is always coming up with grand ideas and wanting to create fun projects.
“This is all his doing, his building, everything, coming up with the idea,” says his mom, Erika Andrus. “sometimes I just can’t stop him, and I don't stop him and he just goes.”
Ollie spent hours constructing his cardboard shelter just as Habitat for Humanity builds homes for the community.
His creativity didn’t stop there.
“Well I was kinda bored and I was going to sit in and I was like maybe I should do something while I'm sitting here, so I was like maybe I can raise money for some kind of charity,” Ollie Andrus.
After getting the idea to spend 24 hours in a box, he and his family worked to get the word out to the community with fund raising flyers and social media posts.
“It was keeping him busy, and when he said it was going to go to charity, I was like go for it,” says Erika Andrus.
Ollie’s original goal for fund raising was about $100, but after the community’s response was so positive, he upped his goal to $1000.
Once Habitat for Humanity, Ollie says he may want to use his talents and volunteer to build a house.
“I’ll give the money but it would be fun to help build it too,” says Andrus, “for people who don’t have houses.”
The Andrus family says they collected $2,563 by the end of their fund raising timeline on Thursday afternoon.
Friday, June 30, Ollie and his family are heading to their local Habitat for Humanity 'Restore' to donate the money.
