Do you ever have worries or thoughts that keep you up at night? I know I do. For some people, late-night thoughts can range anywhere from “Did I lock my car door?” to “I hope my next electricity bill won’t be too high next month.” Others might have different worries, like the state of their health, whether or not they’ll be able to find another job, or what educational route they’ll end up selecting. We all have anxieties.
For a 13-year-old New Jersey resident, Sir Darius Brown, he has a worry that many of us have but don’t normally think about on a day-to-day basis. His heart is set on ensuring shelter animals are able to be adopted into good homes. Rather than letting his worries consume him, he decided to do something about it: sew beautiful bowties, so strays could have a higher chance of being adopted!
Sir Darius’s idea came about when his hairstylist sister, Dazhai Shearz, began creating her own hair bows. He was intrigued right away, and with his fine motor skill delay, their mother, Joy Brown, thought it’d be a good idea for Sir Darius to be his sister’s “assistant.” He quickly got the hang of it, and by 2015, began using a sewing machine to create his own bows to wear around his neck.
Two years later, Texas and Florida faced the tragedies of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Sadly, the Brown family was unable to donate money. Joy informed Sir Darius that if he wanted to help, he’d need to be creative. His way of helping was to send bow ties to help the animals who lost their homes get adopted.
“At first I didn’t get it. But then he explained that he could donate his bow ties to the shelters and if the dogs wear them they’ll be looking cute and dapper and people will want to adopt them,” Joy admitted.
Initially, Sir Darius took his handmade creations to their local ASPCA.
Then he continued to make more bows, up to 10 to 15 every week, over the weekends. Each bow would take approximately 30 minutes to make. In total, Sir Darius believes he has made approximately 400 to 500 bows and helped around a hundred shelter animals find a home.
As the demand grew, Dazhai created a GoFundMe to accumulate donations to help Sir Darius pay for the supplies. So far, the campaign has earned over $52,o00! The Browns are still accepting donations.
Then in the summer of 2019, Sir Darius and his mom decided that instead of merely shipping out the bows and taking them to local shelters, they would visit seven states to hand-deliver the bows to several shelters.
“At first it’s sad seeing the dogs in their cages. But I just keep reminding myself that I am doing this to help,” Sir Darius said. “I want to help as many dogs as I possibly can and to continue to give back to others. I want to inspire the youth to give back to the community as well, and use your passion to help others.”
Sir Darius hopes to one day visit all 50 states to deliver his handmade bows. His non-profit work is a big passion of his!
Find out more about Sir Darius’s “PAW-SOME Misson” below.
