KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee's Summit. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.
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A Lee's Summit third grader turned his passion for art into a charitable mission, raising more than $400 to help fellow students with school lunch debt.
Nash Tuggle, a student in the Lee's Summit School District, organized a raffle featuring one of his original artworks as the prize.
The young artist sold tickets to raise money for the district's nutrition department to help cover lunch costs for students in need.
"No matter how much the money is, it just still helps out the community and stuff," Nash said.
The idea for the raffle came from Nash and his mom. When talking about where the donation would go, Nhi Tuggle, Nash's mom, offered a few suggestions and landed on the school.
That's when they narrowed it down to helping with meal debt, a problem that increased after the COVID pandemic.
The Lee's Summit School District said around 4,300 students get free or reduced lunch.
"It just feels really like hurtful, that like not most people get like food and stuff," he said.
Nash said he spent time planning the art piece, wanting his vision to come to life.
"I like drawing people and stuff like that," Nash said. "I just thought about it. It took a long time to plan it and think about it."
Nash said it was cool to see who won the raffle.
"My Mimi's best friend got it and he only got like two, one tickets, so that was pretty fun, too," Nash said.
Nash's mother supported him throughout the process and expressed pride in her son's drive to give back.
"He loves art so he can utilize it for good and so I'm really proud of him," Nhi Tuggle said.
The artwork Nash raffled off is called "The Smile Apocalypse," which is a signature style for him.
Nhi Tuggle hopes the experience teaches her son about the impact of small gestures.
"I want him to know that, like little acts of kindness can go really far, no matter what that is, whether it's a raffle or being nice to a friend, that we can all get together and do something that's better, that's good," she said.
Nash plans to continue using his artistic talents and wants to teach his younger siblings about giving back to the community.
"I feel very joyful at like how everybody gets to have lunch and stuff," Nash said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
