Whiz Kid - Meet Jessie O'Mara

Bracelets in every color, pattern and texture imaginable adorn the wrists of Jessie O’Mara. 

On one arm, Jessie, 10, a fifth-grader at , wears several rubbery awareness bracelets. But, on her other arm, a rainbow of nearly one dozen yarn bracelets – her favorite – line her wrist and, apparently, the wrists of some 500 people, many of whom are fellow students.

Jessie’s love of the fabric bracelets, which are handmade by women in Guatemala, started about a month ago during a visit to her eye doctor, . 

“I went there to get my glasses and they had these bracelets,” Jessie said. “I got one.”

From there, Jessie returned to McPhillips’ office to buy a bracelet for her friend … and later for her cousin. After several trips to his Horsham Road office, Jessie said McPhillips turned over the basket of bracelets to her. 

“Dr. McPhillips said I cold take it and try to sell them,” Jessie said, adding that she has since sold about 500 bracelets. “Every day a bunch of kids are buying them.”

And, every day, buyers of the $1 bracelets are contributing to a children’s program that provides eyeglasses and eye surgery to poor children in Guatemala, the doctor said. McPhillips, who takes frequent to Haiti and Guatemala, sells the bracelets at his office to help cover some of the expenses.

Thanks to Jessie, McPhillips has added $500 - and counting - to his fundraising efforts.

Jessie's mother, Terri Knot, said she’d like to see some sort of awareness bracelet for Type 1 diabetes, which Jessie was diagnosed with about 10 months ago. Because of fluctuations in her blood sugar, Knott said Jessie had to give up basketball and soccer, at least for the time being. Selling the bracelets was a perfect diversion, Knott said. 

“I just want her to do positive things,” Knott said.