WOOSTER – Paper is crammed between two grey slates before being sent through the crank-powered embosser. After several rounds through the machine, 15-year-old Harrison Alexander pulls out the paper to reveal raised snowflakes. 

Returning to his parent's dining room table, he sits down next to stacks of supplies. Brown and white paper, plastic bags and a pine tree stamper are all ready for use. Alexander stamps the card and puts it into a bag with four other cards and envelopes.

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This is one of nearly 1,000 cards that the Wooster High School sophomore has created in the last two months to raise money for children in the foster care system. 

For every $100, Wayne County Children Services buys gifts for a child. As Dec. 22 he had raised $450. 

"I love to have Christmas with my parents and I know some people don't get to have that," said Alexander. "This way they get to have a Christmas."

This is Alexander's fifth year of raising money for presents for kids in the foster system, and he has no plans to stop in the future.

Alexander was exposed to the realities of life in the foster system from a young age, often hearing stories from a family member who worked for the county's Children Services system.

At age 7, he asked his parents for help to purchase gifts that would go to foster children or those who lacked the income for Christmas presents. 

"I knew there were kids who didn't have safe homes and couldn't have a Christmas because they had small budgets," he said. "I'm happy to give them something."

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Three years after that first gift donation, he approached his parents again. This time he asked for wood burners to create ornaments. 

Having never used a wood burner before, it was a learning curve, but his family created enough ornaments to sell. That money went to fulfill the Christmas wishes of children in the local foster system.

At the end of his first successful year, Alexander had nearly $100 leftover. 

"One kid wanted a specific pair of shoes, so I purchased those with that money," he said. The shoes were from LeBron James' line of footwear. 

In the following years, he created Christmas cards, wooden ornaments with marbles and birdseed ornaments. The latter was especially difficult to create, he said, but that was his most successful year. 

"We sponsored eight kids last year, so that's around $800," Alexander said. 

Alexander estimates that he spends about 50 hours a year on each project and has raised roughly $2,400 for 24 kids in total over the years.

"I don't do it because it makes me feel good, I do it so they can have something at Christmas," he said.

When Terri Singer first heard about Alexander's yearly Christmas giving projects, she wanted to support him. That year he created Christmas cards, so she purchased a few and sent them to her family and friends.

This year, Singer did the same, paying $6 for a five-pack of cards. She even procured leftover birdseed ornaments that Alexander made the previous year. 

"People don't always believe in the Christmas spirit," Springer said. "Here's a 15-year old who has that spirit and gives you hope."

When he sold birdseed ornaments in 2020, Springer purchased 14. She gifted them to friends, family and her grandchildren.

"Especially now I think we need to know that there is some good in the world," she said. "And those kids he helps, it must make the holiday."

As each year goes by, Springer said, more people discover Alexander's projects, usually by word of mouth or through Facebook.

And as his annual tradition becomes more popular, he has no plans to expand or ask for further assistance. At the end of the day, it's Alexander and his family. 

"I think what makes it special is that it is exactly what he wanted it to be," said Kersten Alexander, his mother. 

While she did remind him to catch up on card making many times this year, she is proud of her son. 

"I'm happy to see him do it and see how it affects kids in foster care," she said. "I did not think we would be here five years later doing this, but I'm happy that we are because it means so much to those kids."

Reach Bryce by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com