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Eight-year-old sells artwork to buy toys for sick children

by Hallie Jacobs

Wednesday, December 7th 2022

Eight-year-old Anderson Yinger is bringing some extra holiday cheer to the UPMC Children’s Hospital in Harrisburg and he does it by drawing pictures.

Anderson Yinger came up with the idea last year to sell his drawings after watching his dad sell some household items on eBay.

“And I went to my mom and I started talking about ‘I want to sell this on eBay and I want to get money to buy toys,’” said Yinger.

But, instead of buying toys for himself, he came up with a new plan.

Yinger explained, “We asked the hospital if we could go shopping to buy toys. There’s not much smiles in the hospital when you’re sick.”

So, he drew pictures and posted them to his Facebook page, Anderson’s Art, and raised $200 in the first hour.

This year, they did things a little different with a competition.

“Where people choose a picture that they like most, where a picture with the most votes got to turn into a card,” said Yinger.

Anderson’s mother, Maura Yinger explained, “Instead of buying individual pictures, people bought packs of cards.”

They sold 75 packs of holiday cards, raised more than $1,400, and bought around one hundred toys for UPMC Pinnacle Foundation.

Now, Anderson’s charitable act has turned into a venture for the whole family, including his younger brother.

“Grayson helped me pick the toys, mom put the pictures on Facebook, I raised the money, and dad helped Grayson,” said Yinger

Dave Yinger, Anderson’s father continued, “It's a nice family activity that we can do to do some good.”

And they’re already planning next year.

Yinger explained, “Grayson is going to join in with the coloring next year and the next year and the next year and the next year .”