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Regeneration!!!

We have launched our first magazine! Its mission is to promote an ecologically and socially responsible lifestyle, and to encourage local and global environmental activism for future generations. The Spring 2009 issue is dedicated to the issue of sustainability, and is available for free at a wide range of businesses and organizations throughout the Upper Valley and Vermont. Our Harvest issue will come out in late August and is dedicated to food justice. Don’t miss it!!

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Anti-Cabin Fever Dinners Starting January 3, 2010!

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Raffle 2009!!!

We need your help! To benefit our Teens Connecting Continents project in Rwanda, we are holding a raffle. Artist Henry Isaacs has generously donated a painting titled, “View to Tanzania from Akagera, Rwanda (oil on linen, 38×52”),” painted just down the road from Rwinkwavu, where our project is serving children. The view is of the border area that once was the scene of tragedy during the Genocide. Now the area has a promising future as a national park.

Please consider purchasing a raffle ticket for $25 or six tickets for $100. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit our friends in Rwanda.

Community Garden…

…a garden or gardens on a plot or plots of land set aside for use of the urban, rural, or suburban community. Like the huge variety of vegetables and flowers that sprout from the thousands of rows and beds in these gardens across our planet, people from all walks of life grow in a wide variety of ways, as they till, sow, and harvest their crops.

Change the World Kids has five 4 x 10 foot beds in the first year of the new community garden in Woodstock and Pomfret, Vermont. So many potential gardeners requested garden plots that the organizers sought space for a second location. In our plots we grow fresh produce for our local food shelf and for families with whom we are working. – three beds for the staples of corn, potatoes, and tomatoes, and two beds to provide a variety of vegetables that are often expensive enough in the stores to be considered extras when you are on a tight budget.

Community gardens provide far more than food. They are about eating fresh and local vegetables that you grow yourself – or trade with your fellow gardener; reducing your carbon footprint; working outside and getting your hands into the dirt; and making new friends within your community.

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Honored for environmental activism
The Burlington Free Press (10/23/08) writes that, ”There’s hope for the ailing earth – driven by  youthful energy and expertise” in its article about two Vermont environmentalists who were  nationally recognized for their work. Phebe Meyers, a Change the World Kids Alum, has won one  of six Brower Youth Awards for environmental leadership! Phebe was honored for her leadership of  our Bosque para Siempre project. Phebe and Nika Meyers, another Change the World Kids Alum,  were flown to San Francisco, CA where they participated in a week of environmental activism, education, and celebration. Phebe served as a panelist at the annual Bioneers conference, and  shared the story of Change the World Kids and Bosque para Siempre with hundreds of youth and adults. For more information about this and the other awesome awardees and their projects visit: broweryouthawards.org and check out the videos!

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A Great Story
A reference librarian, an artist, a forward thinking physics teacher, a tree, and the Change the World Kids are the cast of characters in an incredible story that results  in a $2,500 gift.

John Donaldson is a reference librarian at the library in Woodstock, Vermont, a  citizen scientist, and an artist who carves spectacular bowls from Vermont trees that have fallen or died. His bowls are works of art, smooth and thin with particular  attention to the patterns of the grain of the wood.

As he was carving a piece from a Dr. Suess-like dead tree on his property, an unusual – and powerful – image came forward. He called the piece “Creation,” an illustration of the gift of life. So moving was the image that John deemed it a gift from the tree’s spirit. He decided that this gift should not be sold, but passed on in a way that would spread the wonder of our Universe. John put a price on the bowl with the intent that should someone want to buy it, he would ask them to donate the sale price to the Change the World Kids.

In late August at the renowned Sunapee Arts and Crafts Fair, a man expressed interest in the bowl. John told him the bowl’s story and described the work of the Change the World Kids. The man, George Dewey, was intrigued. George left the booth and checked out our website. A long-time high school physics teacher in MA, he was impressed with what he learned. He had years of experience with students our age, and felt that we were inspirational! He called John and said that he’d like to have the bowl. They made a date to meet the following week.

We met with George and John on the Woodstock Green, and at the end of the day, George drove away with the “Creation” bowl; we celebrated with a check; and we hoped that John knew what a difference he made for our group – and our planet. In honor of the tree and all involved, we will use the gift for the reforestation of Bosque para Siempre and our work.

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Reaching Out
We are Reaching Out! Change the World Kids has received a significant grant to advance  the evolution of our organization and increase volunteer efforts of youth throughout Vermont!  Our original chapter of Change the World Kids has provided thousands of hours of  community service to local individuals in the Upper Valley area. The goal of our Reaching  Out program is to expand our service base to more Vermont residents by creating a network  of Change the World Kids and Change the World Kids Juniors throughout the state.  Multiplying the engagement of Vermont teens in community service will benefit the people  and environment of Vermont and beyond, and it will make a significant difference in the lives  of maturing Vermont teens.

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The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards:
Change the World Kid Zoe Isaacs is named Vermont’s top high school youth volunteer for 2008 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards (www.prudential.com/spirit), a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. The awards program is conducted by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (www.principals.org/prudential).

Zoe is spearheading the development of a youth program in Rwanda (Teens Connecting Continents) that is working to provide orphans and other impoverished children with education, health care, HIV/AIDStesting, and soccer equipment, coaches and facilities. While visiting her brother, an aid worker in Rwanda, Zoe saw how the simple gift of a soccer ball could bring joy and passion to desperate youth. “Despite overwhelming sadness and devastation, I saw hope in the easy smiles of countless orphans,” said Zoe. “There existed possibility, even among shacks and shanties riddled with disease and starvation.”

Soon after, Zoe enlisted the help of Change the World Kids. During the past year, we have provided school fees and pens for children, hired a program coordinator, purchased soccer jerseys, and raised funds to renovate a soccer stadium. As thousands of young Rwandans are drawn from miles around by the attraction of soccer games, they also will be given educational opportunities and HIV testing. Zoe has overseen the raising of $7,500 in funds for the program, and devotes much of her time to accounting, public relations and community outreach activities. “As citizens of the Western world, we have the resources to help,” she said. “We cannot afford to sit by and watch as problems of poverty and disease escalate.”

AND INCREDIBLY….
In 2006 Change the World Kid Phebe Meyers was named the Vermont top high school youth volunteer and received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award! Phebe was honored for organizing and founding the amazing group Change the World Kids.

In 2007 Change the World Kid Maya Robinson was the named the Vermont top high school youth volunteer and received the Prudential Spirit of Community Award! Following a year in India as a Rotary International Exchange Student, Maya created an exhibit of photos taken by 20 international exchange students over the past 35 years to promote greater understanding of foreign cultures and the interconnectedness of people around the world.

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HOW COOL IS THIS!

Where else in the media? Recently we were featured in Weekly Reader Magazine and the Reader’s Spotlight of Oct/Nov 2007 issue of KEWL. Interested? Check out the Chapters section of our website, and then contact us!