Five Kids Who Made the World a Better Place

[Are_grits_groceries]

1- 17-year-old Spencer Brodsky has long been fascinated with the wider world: for several years, he’s hosted online interviews with world leaders including Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, and Timothy Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, and has become passionate about many global issues. Recently, after learning about the crisis in Darfur, the Maryland teen decided to do what he could to help the refugee women there, who are often attacked or killed when they leave their camps in search of firewood to cook with. He realized that more fuel-efficient stoves could help the women stay safer, cutting down their time away from the camps by 75 percent.

Now, Brodsky is raising money to purchase as many of the $30 stoves as possible for the women of Darfur through his website, speeches, and DVD sales. He’s already raised enough to purchase 400 stoves—to contribute to his effort, visit his site to make a donation or donate directly to his nonprofit partner, CHF International.


2- When Hannah Taylor was only five, she spotted a man eating food out of a garbage can on the streets of Winnipeg, and asked her mother why he would do a thing like that. As her mother explained the difficulties of life for those without homes, Hannah became determined to help.

So, for the last five years, she has travelled through Canada as a young advocate for the homeless, encouraging people to provide support to the homeless through the nonprofit group she founded, the Ladybug Foundation, which raises awareness of homelessness and raises funds which are then distributed to homeless shelters and other organizations that provide immediate help to the homeless in Canada. Hannah, now 11, has helped to raise more than $1 million to help ensure that the men and women in her community will never again eat out of garbage bins. To learn about more US-based nonprofits that help the homeless, check out our Giving Guide.

3- In 2004, 12- and 13-year-old siblings, Robbie and Brittany Bergquist saw a story on their local news channel about a soldier stationed in Iraq who’d racked up a several-thousand dollar phone bill from calling his family at home in Norwell, Masachussetts. They were shocked to discover that this was a common trend among members of the military, who were homesick but had no cheap and easy way to connect with their loved ones.

So, the two enterprising teens came up with a solution: they would create a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free phone cards to soldiers stationed overseas, Cell Phones for Soldiers. A donation of a used cell phone can pay for an hour of talk time for a solider, and the group also takes many financial donations through partnerships with Amazon and other companies. Since the two teens founded the group with $21 of their own money, they’ve raised more than $2 million in funds to help the soldiers make calls home without worrying about the cost. To help soldiers score some talk time with their families, learn more about Cell Phones for Soldiers and make a donation.

http://razoo.com/articles/Five_Kids_Who_Made_the_World_a_Better_Place

Good on them all!

(Boy do they shame me. I feel like a sloth.)

[JNelson6563]

1. Good on these kids!

Showing the "me generation" how it's done. :patriot:

Julie

[WillieW]

2. Kudos to these kids.