Colwood student wears pink sunglasses on decade-long mission to spread kindness

COLWOOD, B.C. -

Despite what they say about rose-coloured glasses, Brady Harrison is choosing to view the world through them.

“I absolutely instantly loved them,” Brady says, adjusting the large, pink, heart-shaped frames. “They make me feel confident.”

They make the 12-year-old, whose pronouns are they/them, keep pursuing a mission that began almost a decade ago.

“Hi! I’m Brady!” the then three-year-old smiles into the camera during a video they made. “I’m going to start helping nature.”

Brady was inspired to start protecting the planet after meeting an ecological mascot named Ollie the Otter and earning a badge for learning about local watersheds.

“That was kind of the first time you could see the pride Brady was taking to help the planet,” Tara Harrison says of her child.

Brady started asking for environmental books for their birthday and launched a club in Grade 1 dubbed the 'Garbage Grenaders.'”

“It felt really nice to know that I was actually doing something to help the environment,” Brady says.

And Brady kept eliminating litter during recesses almost daily through every year of elementary school.

“That was a really cool thing to see,” Tara smiles.

By the time Brady reached middle school they expanded their acts of kindness to include people, and they saved up their money to support a popcorn fundraiser for students who struggled to attend field trips.

“I took $84.71,” Brady says. “And I bought 34 bags of popcorn.”

And after achieving their donation goal, Brady gave the bags away to the students.

“They were making 34 other people’s day by getting free popcorn,” Tara smiles proudly.

But then Brady heard about kids with cancer losing their hair. Although Brady wanted to donate theirs, they struggled with the thought of cutting what they’d been growing long for five years, and was such a big part of their identity.

“I was scared that I wouldn’t have that piece of me anymore,” Brady admits.

But after months of deliberations, Brady faced their fear and ended up donating five, foot-long locks of hair to wigs for kids.

“It felt really good,” Brady smiles. “I was really happy about it.”

Because despite what they say about rose coloured glasses, Brady does see the world’s challenges and chooses to view them as opportunities.

“It’s not too late,” Brady says. “You can still help the world in really magnificent ways.”