Lily the Bernese Mountain dog is very proud of all of her heroes.  These kids are really something - they are very active in their community and have learned the importance of giving.  You can be one of Lily's Heroes too!  Want to learn more or need some ideas?  Click on "Become a Hero".  Is one of your pals doing something really cool that helps people?  Check out "Nominate a Kid".

Lily hopes that kids (and parents) will be inspired by these stories.  Many of these ideas can be copied and carried out right in your own neighborhood.  If you appear on our website in this section, you will be entitled to a free certificate.

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When Tyler Page was 9 he watched his first episode of Oprah with his mom. She was featuring a story on children being sold into slavery by their own parents for as little as $20. Fishermen would take them miles away and make them fish for 14 hours with one small meal a day. He couldn't believe how these children were being treated and when he found out that just $240 would keep one child out of slavery for an entire year he asked her to pause the show. He asked if he could have a fundraiser in order to raise that money. His mom asked what he would do and how he would do it and three weeks later, in March of 2007 he and his buddies had their first car wash. They didn't raise the $240 but $1,200! He decided not to stop and kept having more fundraisers with more and more children wanting to help at all of them. He set a $50,000 goal, started a non-profit organization called Kids Helping Kids Leadership Academy, Inc. and surpassed that goal in just 17 months. Kids from all over wanted to help so his mom started a leadership academy where kids come and learn about integrity, honesty, communication, time management, money management and a lot more. It is truly amazing how a 9 year old boy's simple heartfelt idea could have turned into so much. Pure intentions and team work have certainly paid off.!!

Check out his Web site.

County: Contra Costa CA, USA 

School: Adams Middle School

Brandon and Jake Johnston are leading their classes in a humanitarian project to make sleeping bags/mats for kids in Haiti who lost homes in last spring's Hurricane. Their goal is to make 300 sleeping bags and to do that, they need 1000 milk bags/sleeping bag (see website for details on what they do with the milk bags). So that's 300,000 milk bags they have to collect and crochet into mats. Brandon & Jake along with their cousins Ethan & Collin at another school have challenged each other to collect the most bags. They are approaching 2000 so far since starting in January. Two containers will be sent to Haiti in the Fall of 2009 and it costs about $8000 to send one so they are also accepting donations through a 'Chipin' widget form on their website. Brandon has also made his very own website/blog for everyone to update with progress. He and Jake have recorded some videos on why they are doing this and how to make wool plus a donation widget.

See Brandon and Jake's web site.

City: Brampton ON, Canada 

School: St. Rita Elementary

Ismaelpeter is taking care of a wild baby starling bird. He fell into a hole in the roof of our apartment and then was stuck in the wall for a day in a half until he came out from under our kitchen sink. Sounds crazy but that's what happened! My son decided that we needed to give God a helping hand in taking care of this wild bird. He feeds him, bathes him and gives him a lot of love. Also, he named him JJ. He went online to find out what gender he was so that the name would be right.

County: Kings NY, USA 

School: A Beka Academy

Bailey Reese was 7 when she founded Hero Hugs in 2004. After a hurricane hit the area where she lives, Bailey noticed people were not thanking soldiers passing out ice and water, but instead complaining about long lines and not getting enough. The soldiers had left the comforts of their homes and families to come help and should have been being thanked! Bailey gathered some friends to make thank-you cards for the soldiers and since has made it her passion to be sure the men and women who serve our country know someone is thinking of them even when we don't like what they are doing or how they are doing it.

Now thirteen, Bailey has inspired thousands of kids from all over the country to help send out more than 40,000 appreciation packages valued at over $350,000 to soldiers! Packages from Hero Hugs stand out from all the others because each one is homemade by a child…..school milk cartons become holiday baskets and Chinese takeout boxes are decorated and filled with treats. Bailey’s program does more than lift the spirits of soldiers far away from home; Hero Hugs teaches kids to appreciate their freedoms and the men and women who work to protect them while making the world a better place for us all. It is also helping kids who often are left feeling helpless that they can do something to make a difference and help their loved ones right here at home.

County: Okaloosa FL, USA 

School: Okaloosa County Blended School

Braced with the simple truth “everybody should have a home”, Hannah is a child whose dedication to helping the homeless is creating awareness of their plight and raising funds for their needs around the world. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1996, Hannah is by all accounts a regular little girl. Her zest for life extends to her love of people, nature, writing and drawing. She is the published author of Ruby’s Hope, a beautifully written and illustrated children’s story that inspires hope and caring, and empowers its readers to get involved and “make change” at any age. When Hannah was 5, she saw a man eating out of a garbage can on a frozen winter day. Hannah was immediately filled with sadness and questions. “Why, why, why?” she asked. “If everyone shared what they had, could that cure homelessness?” Since that defining moment, Hannah has learned about hunger and homelessness. Where society sees a problem, Hannah sees a person.

City: Winnipeg MB, Canada 

School: Unspecified

I came across this wonderful (Kids Are Heroes) website and story a few weeks ago from a link that was sent to me. My daughter Mia who is 5 years old overheard the news cast that was playing and she had a lot of questions. I explained to her what the website was, and what a good deed meant. On her own she thought of helping a man on our street who had a brain bleed and has been left paralyzed. She said "Mamma, we could help Mr. Doug!" We thought together we could plant flowers for him, so we did. Since that day she thinks of something every week that we could do to help him. This week it's washing his windows. So I just wanted to say thank you for this great thing you've passed on to her. It has been a great opportunity to teach her compassion and doing on to others.

City: Burlington ON, Canada 

School: Pauline Johnson Preschool

Emily has set up a program where she donates boxes full of items to cheer children up that are in the hospital. Her brother suffered a stroke before he was born, and she knows how sad hospitals can be. She also insisted that if the hospitalized child has any siblings they should get a box too. Please see her site here. You can read more about her brother here.

County: Denton TX, USA 

School: Roanoke Elementary

Alana Ethridge, a 12-year-old student, actress and philanthropist, is best known from season one of "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader." What makes her a Hero is that she has taken her celebrity and created a foundation called Alana’s Achievers, to help young kids between the ages of 4 and 16 develop positive goals in life and more importantly, help them work towards achieving their dreams.

Alana's Achievers focuses on the importance of a good education and healthy lifestyle by promoting the benefits of a solid education, healthy eating habits and an active life that includes fitness. Kids will be rewarded for keeping their grades up, having perfect attendance, and good citizenship. Alana speaks from the heart when she shares the importance of Alana’s Achievers with others, “Whatever is in our power to make their journey a little bit easier, whether it monetary or mentorship we hope to play a big part in their road to their personal stardom. I have been very fortunate to be able to pursue my dream to be an actress, my career has provided me the opportunity to have been cast a hit TV show, and meet many famous people, gone to really cool events, and given back to my community. None of this would have ever been possible without the support and love from my family and friends.”

County: San Diego CA, USA 

School: Unspecified

After learning about the human rights violations that were happening to girls in Afghanistan, Alaina Podmorow decided to make a difference. Alaina, nine years old at the time, started an organization called Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan. Since then, she has been fundraising to educate Afghan girls. Alaina's dream was to band together with other youth to raise awareness and raise money. Today Little Women have raised over $100,000 and are busy spreading the word that education=peace.

Check out Alaina's web site.

City: Winfield BC, Canada 

School: Unspecified

Addison has actively helped us foster greyhounds for the past two years. Through his participation he has learned many important life lessons in compassion, patience, boundaries and care taking. He has also learned how to let go of the foster dogs knowing this is the ultimate goal – to help them find forever homes. All of these lessons have helped him become a wonderful handler with Wags for Hope, which is a local pet therapy organization.

County: Frederick MD, USA 

School: Deer Crossing Elementary

In August 2008, Miranda Lynch and her father went on a vacation to South Africa and decided to spend a week volunteering in a small rural Zulu village, iNzinga. It was very intense, and on the first night Miranda asked to leave. We didn't leave, and by the last night, she asked that we never really leave; that we return regularly and work to help solve the problems there that cause chronic poverty. Within a couple months, Miranda co-founded Isipho with me, her father. Our time living and working there helped us realize we could help end malnutrition by teaching the people of iNzinga how to grow their own food and provide them with the fencing, tools and seeds needed to start. And we could help end illiteracy by providing adequate books and teacher training.

She has helped define the programs Isipho offers, formed a group at school to raise funds, spoken at events, negotiated meetings with leaders of CARE and other organizations we can partner with. Her work has been tireless. We will return in August 2009 to bring books, plant community gardens, and plant the first of many family gardens.

Check out Miranda's Web site.

County: DeKalb GA, USA 

School: Unspecified

When Chloe Maxmin began high school, she was surprised to find that there was little awareness of environmental issues or how students could make a difference on the climate crisis. That’s when she began to formulate her life’s mission: to make global warming the defining issue of her generation. Her goals were to 1) educate and create opportunities for direct action, and 2) help students and community members realize that they could make a difference and see the results of their efforts echo worldwide.

By the start of her sophomore year, she had founded the Climate Action Club at her school. It was aimed at educating and mobilizing action to fight global warming within the school and community. Chloe works tirelessly at this endeavor-- in addition to five AP courses, Mandarin Chinese, varsity sports, piano studies, and a perfect GPA! The Club has a growing list of accomplishments: a comprehensive NO IDLE policy that has changed behavior on campus; recycling over 4000 batteries from students and now expanding into town; a printer cartridge recycling campaign that educates students about the negative effects of cartridges, circulates receptacles, and delivers cartridges to a recycling center. The club has led seminars for faculty and administrators to share information on energy conservation, installed energy optimization software on school computers, and is working on a variety of approaches to reduce the school’s carbon footprint.

County: Lincoln ME, USA 

School: Lincoln Academy

Casey Landahl is a 5-year-old girl who loves to help and care for others. This past year Casey has been planning her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party. She decided to ask for donations in place of gifts. Casey loves animals and has a friend at her veterinarian's office who runs a non-for-profit organization called Pets-4-Pets. They are a no-kill pet rescue group. Casey asked me last year how she could "help the cats". We talked about it and since our house is "full" (three and cats and two giant dogs), we decided that maybe we could raise money for them. Casey had her party at the local martial arts center where they allowed us to have Pets-4-Pets and their spokes-cat, "Merlot" attend. The martial arts center asked for donations in Casey's name as well.

County: Frederick MD, USA 

School:

Mark Rinkel first sold $17,000 in lemonade to purchase a diabetic alert service dog for his brother. After the company turned out to be a scam, Mark started Red Alert Dogs for Diabetics to establish industry wide standards and to help credible trainers and families. His charity has helped purchase puppies, pay vet bills, and training costs for 15 families around the country and in Canada. He has also partnered with researchers to study the dogs and to someday develop a breath test for blood sugar instead of a blood test. Before getting a service dog, one 7 year old girl spent 2 weeks in pediatric intensive care when her blood sugar dropped low. She wasn't expected to survive, but somehow she pulled out of the coma. The medical bills surpassed a quarter of a million dollars. In the 8 months since she has received the service dog Mark purchased for her she hasn't had a seizure or serious blood sugar drop. Dogs do save lives. Mark has also educated more than 1 million people from 40 different countries on the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes and the warning signs. If you don't know the warning signs, you should check out Mark's site called Red Alert Dogs.

See Mark on the local news.

County: Arapahoe CO, USA 

School: Challenge School

John Sun is a happy and healthy 9 year old who loves animals and hopes to a veterinarian one day. John has dedicated a great deal of time and effort to raising money and awareness for premature births. To date, John has collected more than 173 lbs. of aluminum cans from his community in order to purchase 50 Boyds Bears miniature stuffed animals for the NICU unit at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital. He has delivered 143 gift bags to families of preemies at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and Frederick Memorial Hospital and served as the honorary NICU Santa at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital this past Christmas. His passion for animals, big and small, led him to Small Angels Rescue, a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing and finding loving homes for small animals including, chinchillas, degus, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, and mice. To date he has raised $425.00 in donations for this organization.

County: Frederick MD, USA 

School: The Banner School