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Ashley Nevison publishes her second children’s book, donating proceeds to help homeless

Posted 4/8/21

Ashley Nevison, 14, announces the publication of her second children’s book, “We Are So Beautiful; Valuing the Differences Among Everyone,” which introduces the concept of diversity to children.

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Ashley Nevison publishes her second children’s book, donating proceeds to help homeless

Posted

Ashley Nevison, 14, announces the publication of her second children’s book, “We Are So Beautiful; Valuing the Differences Among Everyone,” which introduces the concept of diversity to children.

The book is her second in The Monster Bully Series with Gino and The Monster Bully starting the series in 2020. In the book, Gino and the monsters talk about their differences and learn to accept each other just the way they are, according to a press release.

She will donate 100% of the profits of the book to Sargeant’s Army, which is her 501(c)3 private charitable foundation that provides hygiene Hope Bags for the Arizona homeless as profits from one book provides one hygiene Hope Bag to the homeless.

Miss. Nevison who attends school in Chandler, dances in Tempe, lives in Phoenix and visits Scottsdale on weekends, also danced in Ahwatukee for seven years. She started Sargeant’s Army three years ago in honor of her cat that suddenly died of cancer.

The charity started out providing cat toys and blankets for cats waiting to be adopted, the release said. When the pandemic started, the initiative progressed into also providing hygiene Hope Bags for the Arizona homeless.

Since 2020, Sargeant’s Army has donated over 38,000 items in 7,200 hygiene Hope Bags to nine Arizona counties through 12 nonprofit organizations. Her goal is to reach 20,000 Hope Bags by the end of 2021.

Additionally, Sargeant’s Army has committed to provide all of the consumables for the homeless shower program at the Human Services Campus in downtown Phoenix. This will be over 15,000 single use shampoo packages, combs, razors and bars of soap for the next six months.

“It’s amazing how wonderful I feel when I deliver Hope Bags,” said Miss. Nevison in a prepared statement. “The sense of helping others makes me full whole and grateful that I can provide some needed items for other Arizonans.”

She also started Sargeant’s Army Sparks, a Giving Tuesday Sparks Arizona chapter. Last fall, she organized an outerwear service project for Giving Tuesday Sparks.

“I knew that the winter was coming and the others I had helped would need warm clothing,” she said. “I created an outerwear campaign with a goal to get at least one youth from every state to donate at least one outerwear item to their local charity.”

Ashley’s project donated over 1,600 items with 87 youths participating in five countries and 33 states.
“Next year I hope to get someone from all 50 states and at least 10 countries to participate in my outerwear campaign for Giving Tuesday Sparks,” said Miss. Nevison, who was honored to start the chapter and has many ideas underway.

Encouraging others to help in any way, she recently launched her own podcast, One World, One Future series on interviewing change-makers worldwide, volunteering efforts and advice on how to giving back.

Since starting the podcasts, 13 episodes have been recorded for those subscribing to One World One Future on Spotify, Amazon, iHeart Radio or Apple Podcast.

“I want to engage others to become involved with their community in their own way and let others know that everyone can help out,” she said. “Together we can make a difference.”

For all her community volunteering efforts for both animals and people, she earned the Gold President Volunteer Service Award for the past two years and has been recognized as Daily Point of Light Award honoree No. 6,899.

Founded by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, the Daily Points of Light award recognizes individuals who change the world through everyday actions and words so “they may inspire and light the path for others and help each person make a difference in their own way,” the release noted.

Along with being a Be Strong state student representative as she promotes spreading kindness, Miss. Nevison reads anti-bullying and diversity books to kindergarten through second grades on her personal platform, Friends Stand Up.

Over the last three years, she has read to over 1,800 children in the classrooms and over Zoom. Her goal is to reach 5,000 children with her messages by year-end.

Currently in a pre-professional ballet program, she has danced competitively since she was five and wants to dance professionally before attending medical school to be an orthopedic surgeon in the U.S. Navy, the release added.

If you would like her to read to your class or be considered for a podcast, contact Ashley.nevison@sargeantsarmy.org.

Ashley Nevison,