SALISBURY — An industrious 8-year-old girl’s bracelet business is helping cats in the Carolinas find homes, one piece of jewelry at a time.

After raising $521 in a week, the profits were presented to Salisbury’s  PetSmart on Friday to sponsor several cats for families who could not afford adoption fees.

Brenna Edwards of Monroe started her bracelet-making business just before the summer after her cousin introduced her to the world of jewelry making, specifically earrings. Since her cousin sold earrings, Edwards decided to have a shop with custom-made bracelets using clay beads and silver charms to share with her friends and family.

Each bracelet costs $3, but she wanted to set aside $1 from each sale for donation to the Rowan County cat rescue. Her mother, Lauren Edwards, is a part of Carolina Sanctuary and Rescue, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding homes for cats. The family has been a foster home for cats in the Monroe area, but they also have three cats of their own named Bubbles, Callie and Nelson.

To Brenna’s delight, her bracelet business has expanded both across and outside of the state. Last month, she received orders from New Hampshire and Virginia as well as all across North Carolina.

“She was jumping up and down when she received all those orders, especially the one from New Hampshire, ” her mother said. “We posted about her bracelets on our adoption pages and the rescue’s page and it got shared. Everybody was just amazed that she was doing it, so she got lots of orders.”

Leading up to PetSmart Charities’ adoption event in Salisbury on July 16, Brenna crafted all week and made 42 bracelets to sell at the event, ranging from cat-themed trinkets to custom-designed themes per the request of the customer. By the time it was over, she had sold out of all she had. She hopes that every dollar she made that Saturday and the week before will help families adopt a cat, since the donated funds will go toward adoption fees that can range from $80 to $100. Proceeds raised at future events will also be donated to cat charities.

The favorite bracelet she made was one with one purple and pink beads with a silver cat charm.

Brenna’s next venture for her bracelet business includes being a vendor at the Fairview Fall Festival in Monroe on Oct. 6.  She also continues to take orders that can be placed by messaging the Bracelets by Brenna Facebook page, texting  704-490-1145 or emailing ebrenna119@gmail.com.