Excited to help: Local youth work for good causes

By: Jeremy D. Wells

While some folks may lament the values of modern youth, one group of young people have been showing that they aren’t afraid of hard work, they’re eager to help others, and that they’re willing to do it just because it’s the right thing to do.

As ten-year-old Ryker Hall, and his friends – Jensen Heaberlin, Will Mollow, Graham Pence, and Wyatt Williams – all explained, often simultaneously, they were gathered on the corner of Main Street and Carol Malone selling flowers to raise funds for “a family who lost their home in a fire.”

“And their dad,” one of the boys added, eyes downcast.

They were all quiet then for a fraction of a second before another potential customer sent them scurrying away, excited and animated, the moment passed.

But it’s reflection like that, and an awareness of the positive force they can be, their adult mentors hope to impress on kids like Hall, Heaberlin, and the others involved in Empower Carter County.

That group, organized through the First Church of Christ, is “like a camp and a mission trip, in your home town,” chaperone Ashley Pence explained. The flower sale was just one of the projects they had planned for the children last week, she said. The children had also been doing yard work for elderly residents, and were planning a car wash for later in the week.

Money raised from that event, she said, was earmarked for Fostering Possibilities, a charity that provides for the needs of children within the foster care system.

On Thursday, she said, they were participating in the Build-A-Bed program, which provides beds and bedding for families without proper beds in the home.

While their day-camp program was wrapping soon, Pence said, they hoped the lessons learned would stick with the children. She also noted that Build-A-Bed, Fostering Possibilities, and the other charities and organizations they were working with always needed support and were always accepting donations. And there are always people in our communities, she noted, who can use a helping hand.

Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com