Camden Hussey is a 15-year-old Grade 10 student at St. Thomas Aquinas Society, but friends, family and the North Shore community now also know him as a social entrepreneur.
Camden sold close to 300 special North Shore Rescue brand socks and is giving $2,400 from the profits to the rescue group this week.
And this West Vancouver teenager isn’t stopping at socks.
After raising funds for North Shore Rescue through socks, Camden plans to sell toques throughout the community in the fall and winter — with the proceeds again going to North Shore Rescue.
What started as a school project on entrepreneurship grew into a real-life experience in manufacturing, sales, accounting and, perhaps most importantly, an early seeding of giving back to community.
Camden said North Shore Rescue was the organisation that “popped” in his mind when the school entrepreneurship project was announced. Though the group was always in the news with inspiring stories of daredevil rescues, there was a personal reason he thought of involving North Shore Rescue in his school project.
Several years ago, someone close to him had gone missing in the forest in West Vancouver. He isn’t sure what the outcome would have been without help from volunteers at North Shore Rescue.
“North Shore Rescue helicopter happened to be there in the area and they were able to help and locate the person. That has been an influence on him,” says Camden’s mother, Rochelle Hussey.
She also accompanied her son to the base of Grouse Mountain to sell the socks, which go for $15 a pair. She says this has been an inspiring project for Camden.
Camden has learned a lot in the last few months, says his father, Ian Hussey, a businessman who helped his son with the logistics of the project.
“The learning was in coming in contact with people he wouldn’t have otherwise. He had to talk to the district for a business licence. He had to talk to North Shore Rescue people. And he did interviews with reporters,” he says.
Camden agrees: “Just talking to all the people, I feel like grown socially in the last four months.”
While Camden sold several pairs on Grouse Mountain, bulk of his sales happened after North Shore Rescue highlighted his efforts on social media.
He recently sold 12 of them to just one person. “I think she wanted to give them to her friends,” he says. Now he is almost completely sold off, with only three pairs left.
Camden is looking forward to his new campaign selling toques in the fall and winter with the proceeds going to North Shore Rescue.
He is certain he would become a volunteer with the rescue team. “I and my dad would love to join them as volunteers,” he says.
“I think you will,” his mother says approvingly.
I would like to buy some masks for NSR