Emily's Impact, Book

Presented by Centro de Apoyo Familiar (CAF) & The Youth ECO-Promoters Program 2024

Emily’s

Impact

Emily’s

Impact

Written and Illustrated by CAF's Youth ECO Promoters.

Created by Sumaira, Suneurys, Alondra, Wendy, Nahomy, Suhanna, Iliana, and Nehemias.

Illustrated by Raphael, Valeria.

Edited by Jasmin, Sumaira, Suneurys, Raphael, and Valeria.

Funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust (Empowering Community Stewardship and Activism for Clean Water Equity Program)

In the auditorium, boys and girls in bright costumes dance across the stage. Among them is Emily Rios, dressed as an elegant princess. She loves acting more than anything and is a dedicated member of her school's theater club.

After the children took a bow, Ms. Plum applauded, smiling from the front row.

"Great job, everyone!" she said. “The play will be next Friday!” The whole room filled with cheers, and Emily’s eyes sparked with excitement.

That same afternoon, Emily, alongside her parents and older brother Evan, arrived at Lake Bayfield for the town’s festival. The whole town was there, including Emily’s friends, Olivia and Sandy.

They swam in the lake, played games, and ate hot dogs and ice cream.

Emily and Evan were having an amazing time!

But soon the sun was coming down and their fun had to end.

While Mom and Dad loaded the van, Emily dismissed herself from her friends.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” she says.

Before going to bed, Emily crossed out another day in her calendar. Only seven days left until the play!

“Emily! Breakfast is ready!” Her mom called. “I’m coming!” Emily replied. Emily quickly rushes down the stairs, not wanting to be late for school.

After coming downstairs, Emily and Evan ate their favorite breakfast— chocolate chip pancakes. As they ate, Mom was taking a phone call.

When Mrs. Rios got off the phone, she sat down with them. “I’m afraid I have bad news, Emily.” she began, “Caroline doesn't feel well and won’t be able to make it to school.”

Caroline was also a member of the theater club, and her mom would usually take Emily home from rehearsal. But now Emily doesn't have a way back from practice.

The room was silent for a moment. “If you want, I could wait for her after school, and we could walk home.” Evan suggested.

“Are you sure, Evan?” Mom asked. “Oh, please, please, please!” Emily begged. “Sure, I could take her. I could even practice some more soccer.” Evan replied. “Alright, then!” Mom agreed. “Yay!”

Mrs. Rios takes them to school that day. However, as they arrive, Evan and Emily are surprised to see that their schools are not as full as usual. Emily makes her way to her English class while Evan heads for the lockers where his friends hang out.

“Hey Levi, where’s Caleb?” Evan asked as he unlocked his locker.

“He didn’t come today; I think he’s sick or something...almost everybody else is anyway.”

Meanwhile, news was also spreading in Emily’s friend group. “Caroline?” Olivia asked Emily. “Yeah. I’ll have to walk home from practice with Evan today. “Everyone seems to be sick since the Fundraiser,” Sandy added. The girls were silent.

“I just hope we don’t have to cancel practice.” Emily chirped, “I’ve been practicing my lines all night!” “All hail Princess Elara!” Olivia joked, bowing before Emily. The girls broke out in laughter as they headed to their classes.

Emily hardly noticed the half-empty classrooms because her mind twirled with imaginations of the grand castle, the fiery dragon, Prince Cedric and of course, Princess Elara, in her magical dress, bravely fighting the Evil Queen and— “Emily?”

Mr. Wilson called out.

Emily snapped back to reality, and as she looked around, no one was there. “Class ended fifteen minutes ago.” he said, erasing the board. “Oh!” she laughed nervously.

Emily ran down the halls, determined to get to practice, even if she was late. After what seemed like ages of running, Emily stormed through the theater door.

When she looked up, she was surprised to see a lot less students than usual.

“Emily!” Ms. Plum looked up from her phone, “I’m so glad you made it.”

“Where...is...everyone?” Emily looked around, noticing Sandy and Olivia gluing a branch on the cardboard tree. “Well,” Ms. Plum cleared her throat, “I was just told that James is sick, that makes five.”

Emily plopped herself on the nearest tip-up chair, feeling down. Ms. Plum stood up, letting out a sigh. “I know it's just the six of us, but I think we can still practice.”

After walking home from practice, an exhausted Emily jumped onto her bed and went fast asleep.

“Emily! Emily!!” Dad’s voice pierced through her fairytale dream. She struggled to open her eyes, then she suddenly realized it was already the next day. She quickly got ready for the day and rushed out the door.

She rushed down the steps and headed towards the dining room, but to her surprise Evan wasn’t there.

“Where is Evan?” Emily asked her father; “Evan already left for school.” her dad responded, “If you’re hungry, you can have some breakfast, there’s toast on the table. But the bus leaves in fifteen minutes.”

“I have to go to the office, just make sure you don’t miss the bus.”

“Okay, Dad.” Emily smiled.

Emily reached the bus stop; it wasn’t long before she saw the bus arriving.

When she got in, she didn’t expect the bus to be so empty, it was usually very noisy and crowded, she was only the third passenger. “Something is very wrong,” she thought.

Upon her arrival, she was shocked at how silent the school’s hallways were as if she were the only one there. As she made her way to her locker, she noticed there were hardly any students.

“Emily!” Sandy called out from the end of the hallway. “Sandy?” Emily quickly approached her, “where is everybody?” she asked.

“Didn’t you hear? Everyone’s sick, it’s like a virus or something,” Sandy replied. Before Emily could reply, the school bell rang. “I’ll see you later!” said Sandy.

While in class, Emily had a hard time concentrating because of this mysterious sickness that was spreading all around.

“Yes, Tony?” Mr. Wilson responded to one of the students, Tony, who was raising his hand. “Um, why is everyone sick?” Tony asked, pointing out the empty classroom.

Mr. Wilson leaned on his desk, pondering the question before responding, “Well, Tony, I’m not a doctor; maybe it’s a simple case of the flu,” he sighed, “We just have to be careful; you know?”

Mr. Wilson didn't know any more than Tony about what this sickness could be, and that bothered Emily.

As soon as the bell rang, Emily rushed down the hall to the theater. Please, please, please!

She thought. Before she reached the door, her eyes widened when she saw the big black letters on the poster, “CANCELLED”.

Emily couldn’t believe it!

The play she dreamt about for so long was now canceled?!

“Emily?” Sandy came up to her, “Hey, Emily. It’s alright, we should cut our losses,” Emily let out a sob, sniffling as tears rolled down her cheeks.

After coming home, Emily stayed in her room and soon, dinner was ready on the table.

“Emily, dinner is ready,” her dad knocked, but she didn’t answer. He opened the door and saw Emily huddled in her bed fast asleep. He was about to leave when he noticed her scribbled calendar on the wall.

“She’s asleep.” Mr. Rios said as he joined the rest of his family at the table, “She's been having a hard time.” He added. “I heard Ms. Plum is sick at home.” Mrs. Rios mentioned.

“Caleb too,” added Evan, “he’s sick and has been admitted to the hospital.”

“I think it’ll be good if you and your father go visit Caleb after dinner.”

Suggested Mrs. Rios.

After dinner, Evan and his father headed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Mrs. Rios checked on Emily, who was brushing her doll's hair. "How are you feeling?" she asked, sitting beside her.

"Not so good," Emily muttered. "I know this is hard, but your health is more important," Mrs. Rios said gently. Emily sighed. "I guess..."As Mom stood and headed to the door, she added, "Oh, school’s out until next Thursday. So get some rest."

The next morning, Emily decided to spend her day riding her scooter to the park with her dog, Max. She couldn’t help but think of the play.

She was sure nothing could make her feel better. As she rested under a shady tree and Max sniffed around, she recognized Mr. Wilson sitting on a bench nearby.

“Mr. Wilson?” Emily called out. “Oh! Emily. Hello! how are you?” he greeted.

“Not so good,” she replied. Mr. Wilson motioned her to sit by him, “I don’t understand anything!” she slumped beside him. “My play got canceled because there’s some kind of virus and—”

“You were looking forward to it.” He interrupted. Emily nodded, “I just don’t understand why everyone is getting sick?” she asked earnestly.

“I did some research yesterday, it's an infection caused by a microscopic parasite called Cryptosporidium that is usually found in pet waste. This can be spread through contaminated water, food, or surfaces. This can make people very sick.

‘’Well, Emily, the way these infections usually get into our water is by Stormwater Runoff.’’

Replied Mr. Wilson.

‘’But Mr. Wilson how does this even get into the water in the first place?’’

Asked Emily.

‘’You see, when it rains, water flows over the ground, picking up pollutants like Fertilizers, Animal waste, Motor oil, Trash, and Debris...”

“This runoff is often collected by storm drains or drainage systems and eventually flows into rivers or lakes.”

‘’So, then, Mr. Wilson. What can we do to stop this from happening?’’

Asked Emily.

‘’That’s a great question, Emily! Some of the things we can do to avoid these situations are not throwing trash in the street, picking up after our pets, and disposing of oils correctly, among many other things.’’

“By doing these practices we are contributing to the restoration of the environment’s health.

Many people carelessly dispose of things without knowing how much it affects the environment, and us.”

While having to head home, Emily thought about all Mr. Wilson said. ‘Well, that's everyone else’s fault for doing that, but I never did anything’, she thought to herself.

But by the time she was close to home, she realized nothing was going to change no matter who did it. Unless...someone did something.

After arriving home, Emily eagerly asked her mom if her friends Olivia and Sandy could come over, to which Mrs. Rios agreed, suggesting she check with their parents too.

About an hour later, after getting approval from each of their parents, Emily heard the doorbell ring. She rushed downstairs and opened the door to Olivia's cheerful "Hi!"

“So, you’re saying that this is all from Lake Bayfield?” Sandy asked again, when they were all seated on the kitchen island. “Yeah.

Its contaminated, that's what Mr. Wilson said.”

“And... what do you want us to do?” asked Olivia.” “I want us to clean the lake.”

Emily replied. Sandy and Olivia broke out in laughter.

“That’s impossible!” said Olivia.

“It'll take years to do that,” added Sandy. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Emily slumped. “You guys could write a letter to the mayor?” Emily’s mom suggested.

“We can?” asked Emily. “What would we even write?” wondered Sandy. “You could tell him about what's going on and how it's affecting you and the environment.” Mrs. Rios suggested.

The girls gathered in Emily’s room to write their letter to Mayor Clark. “...Sincerely, Emily, Olivia, and Sandy,” Once they finished, Emily’s mom reviewed and placed the letter in the mailbox.

Six days later, the mailman arrived at City Hall, “Here’s the mail for Mayor Clark,” He handed a pile of letters to the receptionist.

As she looked through the mail, she noticed an envelope scribbled with butterflies and flowers. She dialed a number on the telephone, “Good Morning, there are some letters addressed to Mayor Clark.”

Sometime later, as Mayor Clark went through his mail, he came across Emily’s letter.

“What is this?” he muttered. As he read it, he slumped back on his chair as he pressed a button in his telephone, “Amy, please coordinate a meeting with City Maintenance.”

A week later, on a Saturday afternoon, while Evan was at the store with his friends, he noticed Mayor Clark on the TV, giving a speech.

“...it was something we should have done years ago, the cleaning of Lake Bayfield.”

“Because of this error, the attendees at a community event have suffered greatly. I recently became aware of this, due to three girls who sent me a heartfelt letter, voicing their concerns...”

“Emily! Come downstairs!”

Mrs. Rios called. “What is it?”

Emily replied, rushing down.

“Look!” her mom pointed at the TV screen.

“Starting tomorrow morning, I’ve authorized the operation to proceed with the purification of Lake Bayfield. I’m looking forward to working with our community closely during this process, thank you!”

Emily shrieked with excitement, “Oh, my gosh! It worked, it worked!”

The following morning, Emily looked out her car window to see that the lake area was bustling with volunteers and city workers. There was machinery and a large lab tent where researchers were studying the bacteria that was causing the sickness in the city.

It was all very exciting for Emily!

Three months later, the project was finally completed, and the mayor scheduled a grand opening event for the entire town. One evening, while the Rios family enjoyed an Argentinian asado in their backyard, Mr. Rios received a call from Emily’s school.

He came back to the table, “Guess what, Emily, before the school’s out, Ms. Plum decided to present the play for the Grand Opening of the lake!” Emily exclaimed “Really?! YAY!!!!” she exclaimed. “Better learn your lines,” added Evan.

Emily, her friends, and all the other children were eagerly practicing that whole week. On the night of the opening, the family was getting ready and heading out the door.

“Emily! Come on, we’re going to be late,” called Evan from downstairs. “I’m coming!” she called from her room. Before she left, she crossed out another box from her new calendar.

Cameras flashed as the mayor spoke to the huge crowd, “This evening we celebrate the Grand Opening of Lake Bayfield. I want to especially thank all the volunteers and city workers for the fabulous job.” Applause rang around the whole stage.

After Mayor Clark made his speech, he invited Emily’s school on stage. Everyone watched in amazement as they saw the play come to life. Finally, they all took a bow.

“Just like Emily was able to make a difference in her community, so can you! No matter how young you may be or where you are in the world.”

Emily’s

Impact

Emily, a young aspiring actress in her school’s theater program, is excited about her big role in the upcoming play. However, her world is turned upside down when a mysterious infection spreads through the school, affecting most of her friends and even her brother Evan's friends.

Through her determination and the support of her community, Emily finds a way to help make a positive change. Her story teaches us that everyone’s actions can make a big impact on the world around us and that we all have the power to improve the world.