Caragh Christie is helping others through art.
The 13-year-old Edgecliff Village student is founder and CEO of Pictures Helping People, a nonprofit that raises money for North Texas charities by selling artwork created by children.
She started the effort when she was 5 after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas and Louisiana in August 2017.
Caragh offered to sell her own artwork at a fundraiser organized by a family friend, said her stepfather Michael Magnus, a former advertising college lecturer who now works at Mouser Electronics in Mansfield.
“She said, ‘I think I want to give away my pictures to help the babies whose houses got hurt,’” Magnus recalled. “When you’re a parent, you’ve got tons of kid art. We shared her story and put a couple of pictures online, and they sold immediately. So we put more online, and they sold, too.”
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At the end of the year, these rarely recognized heroes will gather for a luncheon where the Report will announce one honoree to represent Tarrant County at the Jefferson Awards in Washington, D.C.
That initial effort raised $600 over a Labor Day weekend.
Caragh used the money to buy diapers for Houston-area children as part of a local relief effort.
“She went and did the purchase and everything, then she said, ‘Who do we help next?’” Magnus said.
Caragh said her nonprofit is “going pretty good right now.”
“We’ve been creating a lot of artwork to sell,” she said.
Pieces, such as paintings of objects, start at $10 and range to pricier items, such as student-made leather dog collars for $35 and decorated leather coasters that cost $20.
Donations are collected for specific causes such as a leukemia fundraiser in January.
Caragh Christie, 13, right, and brother Zane, 7, pose with $1,546 worth of food paid for through children’s artwork sales. The Thanksgiving donation was made to Mission Arlington in November. (Courtesy | Michael Magnus)
Previous fundraisers paid for $1,546 worth of food for Mission Arlington’s Thanksgiving basket project and for aiding victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. Collectively, she’s raised about $10,000 over the years to help communities, including charities in Tarrant County, her family said.
Her work helping others earned her recognition in the Fort Worth Report’s 52 Faces of Community series.
Caragh enlisted her younger brother Zane and his friends to help in producing artwork.
“When her brother got old enough, she figured out how to subcontract stuff to him,” Magnus said.
In 2024, Pictures Helping People became a registered nonprofit to continue the philanthropic effort.
“It’s kind of the opportunity to teach entrepreneurship with empathy.But also kind of give her something a little bit more concrete than this casual idea that she draws pictures and sells them.”
Michael Magnus, stepfather of Caragh Christie
Caragh picked her title of founder and CEO, which has led to her personal growth in leading the nonprofit, he said. She now makes decisions on the organization’s creative direction and operations.
“She’s gotten a lot more involved in the branding and having to think about different business choices,” Magnus said. “She’s in the process right now of interviewing board members.”
Magnus said Caragh’s work shows that age is not a barrier to thoughtful leadership, civic responsibility and meaningful community impact.
“She’s gotten a lot more responsible for her own networking, so she’s got business cards,” Magnus said. “She had to get over her nervousness of talking to adults, and she’s really pretty well.”
Caragh’s role has empowered her, and her message has been well received by the community, some of whom donate to the nonprofit. Others have followed her lead to help others, Magnus said.
Running a nonprofit has its challenges, she said, but “it does make me feel nice.”
“It’s really rewarding,” she said.
Caragh, now a seventh grader at Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts, still maintains her childlike empathy to help others, Magnus said.
The goal is to grow the nonprofit but not let it be a distraction to school, he said. Caragh plans to have brother Zane, a second grader who is chief picture officer, take more responsibility when she goes to college. She’s also trying to figure out how to keep children’s artwork sustainable as she gets older and ages out of being a child artist herself.
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Caragh, a performer in musical theater, dance and girls choir at her school, wants to be a talent agent when she is older.
“Ironically, the only thing she doesn’t take (in school) is art,” Magnus said.
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
The Report’s news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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