Dad Asks Son, 9, How He's Going To Pay For His Wish List. He Came Up With This.

SPOKANE, WA — Cohen Ullah is only 9, but he has a good idea of what he wants in life — a college education and a nice car for himself, but also enough money to help the homeless and others who need it.

Cohen lives on acreage near Spokane with his dad, Noah, and brothers Logan, 13, and Ethan, 14. When Noah asked his youngest boy the inevitable question — “How can you make money with what we have here?” — he didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

Cohen’s inspiration came when he saw bins of pumpkins for sale last year.

“We could grow pumpkins,” he said.

Noah was putting in an orchard at the time, so he set aside some land for Cohen’s pumpkin patch.

“We grew 118 pumpkins,” Cohen told Patch of his first crop. “We sold them on the street. I was surprised that a lot of people came.”

All that remain are a few sugar pumpkins the family kept for cooking.

The boy’s entrepreneurship didn’t end there. With the help of his older brothers, Cohen is also planting a sustainable Christmas tree farm — meaning he’s following practices that have as low of an environmental impact as possible.

“We planted 85 blue spruce seedlings,” Noah said. “It’ll be four to five years, maybe, before they are fully grown.”

Cohen’s dad started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help him raise the capital he needs to buy equipment, seedlings and other business tools. He wants to plant 5 acres in trees — in eastern Washington, Cohen could plant about 150 trees per acre, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

The fundraiser got a big boost with a $5,000 donation from Old Navy this week.

“We are so inspired by your commitment to leading environment progress in your community,” a representative of the company wrote on the site, noting that this year, “in honor of the 51st annual Earth Day, Old Navy is donating to sustainability projects by young eco-activists on GoFundMe, like you! Thank you for all that you are doing to #imagineabetterfuture.”

Cohen isn’t just planting and nurturing his own money tree. He’s learning life skills that will stick with him for life.

“Real-life experience is what I want for all three of my kids,” Noah said. “If you immerse yourself in it, you’re going to learn about it. I want them to know what it’s like to get a business license and save money. It sets them up for future success.”

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.