Ed uc at io n
QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, June 23, 2011 Page 16
C M CELEB OF QUEENS page 16 Y K WONDER WOMEN OF Q UEENS
Young philanthropists learn charity early
Two girls launch fundraisers and inspire their classmates to do good by Benjamin Graham Chronicle Contributor
wo significant moments occurred nearly 10 years ago for eighth graders Angelica Carlson of Jackson Heights and Valeria Mendez of Elmhurst. On the first day of school that year at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School in Jackson Heights, the girls met each other and became friends. Several days later, the twin towers fell. Today the girls are becoming young philanthropists and have already successfully run three fundraising campaigns, two for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and one for victims of the Japanese tsunami. They attribute their charitable work to their friendship and to the feelings they had in the aftermath of 9/11. “I felt like I couldn’t do anything to help in the middle of all that tragedy,” Angelica said. “Now that we’re older, we’ve taken it on ourselves to help when we can.” And the two have become very effective at helping. They first teamed up last spring to make gift packages for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. “A group of our friends came over and we made an assembly line in my house to stuff the packages,” Angelica said. Funds for the packages were raised mostly at school, where the administration has been very helpful and encouraging from the start. On dress down Tuesdays, students at Joan of Arc are permitted to wear their gym uniforms rather than their regular uniforms if they pay $1. The girls were able to collect this money and use it to buy goodies for the soldiers. “We packed boxes with beef jerky, magazines, mixed CDs and thank-you notes written by students,” Valeria said. Assistant Principal Michael Donavan was quick to note that all the magazines and music were rated G. He was also quick to comment on the girls’ character.
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Valeria Mendez, left, and Angelica Carlson demonstrate the PHOTO BY BENJAMIN GRAHAM proper way to prepare a gift package. “I was their sixth grade teacher,” Donovan said. “They showed an extra caring for their classmates back then, and they showed leadership.” Valeria and Angelica brought their first fundraising idea to the administration more than a year ago. “We were very excited,” Donavan said. “We were thrilled to see children living up to the values we try to instill.” In total, the girls sent 25 packages for males, 25 packages for females and three large community packages to soldiers. The duo decided to do it again last Christmas, sending
packages filled with holiday-themed gifts to troops stationed abroad. Afterwards two soldiers, one from the Army and one from the Marines, came to visit the school and deliver personal thank yous to a crowded auditorium full of students. “It was fun to see the kids’ reactions and how they interacted with the soldiers,” Valeria said. When the girls decided they needed a name to operate under, they chose Children of the Heights. “We’re children and we’re from Jackson Heights,” Valeria said of the name. But Children of the Heights is much more than just Angelica and Valeria now. For their most recent project, which took place in May, the two raised $1,000 for Japan’s earthquake and tsunami relief and presented it to the top Japanese ambassador in New York, Consul General Shigeyuki Hiroki. Along the way, they were able to get more and more of their classmates to participate in raising money. Next fall the duo will attend St. John’s Preparatory School in Astoria for ninth grade. They hope to continue their charity work in high school, but they’d also like to pass it on to some of the younger students at St. Joan of Arc. “There are some fifth, sixth and seventh graders ready to take over,” Angelica said. Their plan is to start a used-eyeglass drive and then pass it on to the next class of leaders. “This project will be a good starter for the kids taking over. They won’t have to fundraise,” Angelica said. When asked how they felt about accomplishing so much at such a young age, the girls were speechless. “For me, knowing we’ve been able to do something this big, that actually helps people...I can’t put it into words,” Q Valeria said.
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14TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF QUEENS • 2011
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