North Carolina Third-Grader Buys $15,000 in Gifts for Sick Kids

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A precocious nine-year-old's determination to make sure sick children had gifts during the holidays paid off with stunning results.

Katie Greene, a North Carolina third-grader, went into this holiday season with dollar signs in her eyes -- not for her own gifts, but for those she would help deliver to several area hospitals using money she planned to raise from her school, family, friends and various community groups.

She ended up collecting a whopping $15,708.

"I'm really hard to turn down," Katie told ABC News of her marketing strategy.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Katie launched her own version of a speech circuit, meeting with youth and church groups and her classmates to ask for donations. She also set up shop at craft shows and sold raffle tickets.

It's a project she has undertaken for the last three years -- since she was six -- but this year topped her previous efforts by far.

"I had this idea," she said. "It's just gone off. I think I'm doing a really good job."

That first year, Katie raised $162. Three years later, she set a goal of $15,000 and raised more than $700 on top of it.

Though Katie wasn't allowed to deliver her gifts in person due to concerns over infection and privacy, she said she knew of one little boy -- named Kevin -- who liked to watch movies. So she bought him gift cards to Best Buy and Amazon so he could have his purchases shipped to him.

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