B.C. teen donates Taylor Swift tickets to charity

SAANICH, B.C. -

Whenever Sophia Vaillant would go on family road trips as a kid, she’d inevitably play songs by the same singer.

“The whole car starts jamming out to Taylor Swift,” Sophia smiles, while watching a video of her family singing along in the car to “Shake It Off.”

When she started university, Sophia decorated her dorm with more than half a dozen posters of just one pop star.

“I joke that Taylor watches over me when I’m studying,” Sophia smiles, pointing to a life-size poster of the star hung over her desk.

Sophia also regularly writes a ‘Taylor Swift Lyric of the Week’ on a white board in the hallway for all her roommates to relish.

“I fell in love with, not only her music,” Sophia explains. “But also her community and with the fandom as a whole.”

So you can imagine how Sophia felt when Taylor Swift finally announced her Eras Tour was coming to Canada.

“I was so excited,” Sophia says. “But also so disappointed.”

Because the concerts were too far away, and the tickets were too expensive.

But then her mom Vivian enlisted 31 friends, family, and coworkers to try and get tickets for Sophia’s birthday, and succeeded in securing four.

“And it was the most excitement I’ve ever felt in my life,” Sophia smiles, recalling how she cried happy tears over the phone when her mom told her the good news.

Sophia decided to take her mom to the concert immediately. But deciding what to do with the other two tickets took more time.

“My sister’s friend’s moms were texting her [asking to buy the tickets],” Sophia says.

So Sophia could have sold them to any number of her friends and acquaintances, or made a massive profit scalping them. But instead, the 19-year-old decided to donate them to the community group she’d been volunteering at for years.

“I had the idea to make some magic for them,” Sophia says.

So Sophia helped organize a local “Taylor Swift Extravaganza,” centred around a provincewide raffle for her extra tickets. It raised almost $27,000 for the Lake Trail Community Education Society.

Kathleen Sturt from Prince George, B.C., won the tickets.

“I was shocked,” Kathleen says.

Her 10-year-old daughter Layla will be attending the concert in Vancouver. “Her jaw dropped and she squealed. And then she ran off and told her friends!”

Now Sophia is making a friendship bracelet for Layla to wear at the concert, and hoping her generosity with the tickets proves to be as infectious as Taylor Swift's songs.

“It feels good to do things in the community and support other people,” Sophia smiles. “It feels good to spread joy and kindness.”