Charlotte, NC, Age: 17

Please describe how you have helped others.
My church sponsors a Christmas celebration for the children of incarcerated parents. We present a program followed by dinner and gifts. It had long been my desire to do something special with these children other than just having a Christmas celebration and not have a friendship of any sort with them. We had seen them for almost 5 years and not to really know each other made me very sad. I wanted to make a difference and so came the idea of “PEN Pals Book Club and Support Group for Children of Incarcerated Parents.” It is designed as a literacy-based organization although they attend plays, social functions and sporting events while performing community service projects. Statistics show there are over 5,600 children of incarcerated parents in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County alone. Often times these are both parents and the children end up with grandparents, other family members or in foster care. They often feel rejected and depressed because of their situation and perform poorly in school. We believe education will help solve some of their problems, allowing them to feel proud of themselves. I want them to know success even in their present situation.

How long have you been involved in this effort? Please include a start date and end date if applicable. When and how often do you volunteer?
Although I have been doing community service work since I was very young, going on mission trips with my father and volunteering with my mother and other family members, I began PEN Pals project in October 2007 and it continues presently. We have done various projects along the way that we have started and completed but the book club project has continued up to the present. I volunteer weekly-whether at church, with the book club, at school, the center or where my services are needed, usually 20 or more hours.

What was the outcome? For example, funds raised, the number of coats collected for needy kids during winter, the number of community members who supported your cause, etc.
Presently, my mother and I foster a 3-year-old child from family adopted family from Battered Women’s Shelter that we provided Christmas gifts and food; we helped adopt & support 9 other families throughout the year; Increased literacy bi-monthly novel readings; dealt with teen drinking/driving with “The Booze It or Lose It” workshop; discussed teen suicide with literature for suicide hotline and with death of teens and how the youth felt; collected 10 bins of sanitary supplies to support the “Education for Africa” project and a local school; collected toiletries, stocked shelves, fed over 175 residents, distributed blankets, towels and linen at the men’s homeless shelter; established youth book club for ages 4-11; collected over 700 pairs of jeans for at-risk & homeless youth; helped open clothes closet for homeless; collected school supplies for local after school program and West African kids; partnered with Mallard Creek High School DECA organization and collected over 1,100 adult and children’s books to be used to set up a library for women recently released from prison; raised over $9,000.00 in grants and donations, raised over $1,100.00 in raffles; collected and donated over 50 coats for local Boys and Girls Club.

Why did you decide to volunteer your time?
Since I was a young child, I watch both my parents and other family members help others. I watched my mother go through her illness after learning she had to have a brain tumor removed. After her first surgery, she had to have 7 more surgeries and she continued to be so strong. She always helped people and now people were helping us. We had to stay at my grandparents’ house for months at a time so they could help us to make. I knew I had to find some way to help someone else, to give back. The Kick-Off for the “PEN Pals Book Club was held at Greenville Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in October 2007 with some very excited youth, adult mentors and Mr. Vince Coakley, WSOC-TV’s anchor for “Eyewitness News” weeknights ready to serve. When we called him, he readily said yes. He delivered a wonderful speech inspiring all of us with scripture and wisdom. Mr. Coakley let us know we can make a world of difference in another child’s life. He also encouraged us to let the children of incarcerated parents know that someone cares about them.

What have you learned from this experience?
I learned that I can do things that sometimes seem impossible when I put my mind to it, get the help I need and continue to work – no matter how hard the task. I have learned that I have more influence that I realized but not everyone will want to support your program or want to be a part of it. I learned that people would join you and help you when you stop thinking about yourself and want to help others. I learned the world is not all bad even though we hear so much bad news; they are still wonderful people in the world. I was careful whom I asked to be a part of the book club because I knew everyone would not want to participate. At the same time, my mom and I began to gather the names of the children of incarcerated parents that we sponsored at Christmas. It was easier that I thought as we gathered our peer and adult mentors. I have learned that you can impact the lives of many, many people by just setting out to help just a few.

If you win the $1,000 charitable contribution, how do you plan to spend it helping the community?
Books are big part of what we do and who we are. I would help the community by purchasing books for the book clubs which would allow these young people to build a library at home but also purchase books to help set up library at a location that all the youth can use. This would allow me to continue to promote literacy among children of incarcerated parents. These problems are often due to attention disorders and developmental regression, lowered academic performance, and classroom problems. I would purchase reading incentives to entice youth people to read and provide a meal when we meet. Often times this meal is very important to many of these young people. I would like to make sure these young people have the educational supplies needed to be successful in school so they will not get discouraged.

What advice do you have to share with other kids who are interested in spreading happiness through community service?
Get started now. It will make you feel so good to know that you made a difference in the life of another young person in your community, especially one whose parent was incarcerated and possibly not living in a situation as they had known before. It makes others feel good about themselves to know that they could still be successful even in their present situation. It makes people feel good to know someone is available to give them someone they could depend on for support and encouragement. It is good to help others learn new skills, meet new people that can help them which often means befriending someone who may be lonesome.