Kid Heroes

PLEASE leave information about any website, organization, or amazing kid/adult that is helping the inspire/empower cause! Even if you could just pass a link to an article talking about an amazing kid/group of kids/adult helping kids/community helping kids, etc. Anything is better than nothing

Lets keep a running tally of kids/adults/organizations/websites that go above and beyond in the name of kid empowerment & inspiration. And I also invite you to speak your mind about what you think inspiration & empowerment means to kids.

Websites to visit:

• www.invisiblechildren.com
  • invisiblechildren’s Bracelet campaign (I just bought the red one: Emmy’s story)
• www.change.org
• www.idealist.org
• savedarfur.org (Dollars for Darfur program, High Schools to help Darfur)
• cnn.com/heroes
• www.abettercommunity.com (Disney/ABC site, filled with helpful links)
• OLB foundation (see Oral Lee Brown below)
• Zach Hunter’s “Loose Change to Loosen Chains” myspace page (see ZH below)
• Children’s Aid Society (www.childrensaidsociety.org)
• girlswritenow.org (Writing & Leadership for girls)
• youthnoise.org (For youth, by youth: “Find, explore, and network a cause”)

People to note:

• ‘Oral Lee Brown “adopted” a class of first-graders in Oakland, California, promising to pay college tuition for every student who graduated from high school. On an annual salary of $45,000, she did it — pledging $10,000 of her own money each year and creating a foundation to raise the rest. Her foundation’s new goal: Send 20 students to college every four years.’ (CNN.com)
• ‘At 15, Zach Hunter of Atlanta, Georgia, looks like an average teenager, but he has personally raised more than $20,000 to help free slaves around the world. His campaign, Loose Change to Loosen Chains, encourages students to donate spare change to groups working to end worldwide oppression. More than 30 schools now support his cause. Zach’s goal: to end modern-day slavery in his lifetime.’ (CNN.com)
• In 1987, (Linda) Ellerbee and her life and business partner Rolfe Tessem left network news to start their own production company, Lucky Duck Productions. The company has produced programs for every major cable network, and has as its flagship program Nick News, a news program for children on Nickelodeon. That show has received many awards: three Peabody Awards (including one personal Peabody given to Ellerbee for her coverage of the Clinton investigation), another duPont Columbia Award and three Emmys. In 2004, Ellerbee was honored with an Emmy for her WE: Women’s Entertainment network series “When I Was a Girl”. (wikipedia) <– My choice for a hero based upon the fact that she CONTINUOUSLY offers kids the REAL word about news in a respectful, consistent manner. Rock on.
• 13 year old Ashul Samar is a chief executive and Valley startup founder for the company Elementeo- a role-playing board game aimed at improving Chemistry education. (Thanks Valleywag.com)

NOTE: Does anyone have any specific information about the American High School girls who were helping feed African children through a family-owned hotel? It was on either “Good Morning America” or “The Today Show” last week. I’ve googled and googled and not found anything yet. Hmm.