By Jacinta Meir
Rushing Rivers 4H club reporter
4-H is a youth development program. We aim to boost self-confidence, teach kids important life skills, and make sure everyone feels important and has fun. But wait. Isn’t there something missing from that? Well Jessica Meir, Chilliwack 4-H Junior Council President, puts it in just the right words:
“4-H is a great program, but we (Chilliwack 4-H Junior Council) felt there was something missing. 4-H is meant to shape responsible, caring citizens. But sometimes 4-H gets a little self-centered," says Meir. "So we decided to make charity a bigger part of the program. We all decided on giving $240 to Operation Smile.”
Operation Smile is a charity that helps children in third world countries that are born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. The medical systems in many third-world countries don’t cover the operation to fix this condition so this charity fixes it for them. It costs $240 to preform the operation on one child.
But why stop at one child? Why not challenge Chilliwack 4-H Senior Council to donate the same amount? Well there’s no reason why not. So at the Chilliwack 4-H Awards Night, Jessica Meir announced Junior Council’s donation and challenged Senior Council to donate $240 as well. Ken Schwaerzle, Senior Council president announced that Senior Council decided to accept the challenge and was donating $240 to Operation Smile.
The Chilliwack 4-H District helped change the lives of two children for the better. The volunteers who work for this charity are devoted and dedicated people who give their time to help these poor children live normal lives. If people can take their eyes off of themselves and focus on people who need help this world would be a much better place. All you need to make a difference is a few determined people. A few determined people like the members of Junior and Senior Council who charitably gave $480 altogether to help two children. All you need to make this world a much better place is determination and kindness.