By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
THOMAS – Members of the Youth Philanthropy Club have donated $250 to the Mountaintop Library as one of their many projects completed this year. The group, which was formed by Sandy Frank of the Tucker Community Foundation, was developed to help the younger set learn about giving.
“Research shows that the younger humans are when they become involved in service philanthropy, the greater the chance they will be involved in lifetime philanthropy,” Frank said. “We talked with the kids explaining that philanthropy is not just giving large amounts of money but it is being kind to everyone every day and helping others.”
Frank said the group members talked about the roots of the word philanthropy.
“It means the love of humankind,” Frank said. “They learned they are all philanthropists and we learned about how they help out in their school, family and community each day.”
She said the club does not focus on fundraising, but strived to give the members an idea of all of the needs in the community.
“We talked about the needs and the community organizations out there trying to meet those needs,” Frank said. “Then, we talked about what grants are and the process to decide who gets grants. Then each member picked up to three organizations they really liked. They wrote up a mini grant application and explained why they thought that organization deserved the mini grant.”
Frank said members scored each organization and in the end, the members selected the Mountaintop Library as the recipient of the mini grant.
Mountaintop Library Director Ivonne Martinez said the donation from the young folks was a great surprise to her.
Adelaide, a third-grade student at the Mountain Laurel Learning Cooperative in Thomas, said she had fun working with the Philanthropy Club.
“We did something called the Blue Sky Project,” Adelaide said. “We drew a picture of what our community would look like if everyone helped and we answered questions about two things you would take with you if there was a flood or other emergency.”
Adelaide said members of the group worked together to clean up the playground in Davis near the Highland Market. “It was fun,” she said.
“The group was learning about philanthropy and they decided to pick one organization to give money to,” Martinez said. “It is an honor for the kids to do that. They could have picked any organization and they picked the library. This group of kids is very important to me. I remember them when they were one, two and three years old.”
Mason, who is a member of the Philanthropy Club, said final two groups in the running were the Tucker County Animal Shelter and the Mountaintop Library.
“We picked the Mountaintop Library,” Mason said. “It was lots of fun.”
Frank said she hopes to bring the Youth Philanthropy Club into the Tucker County schools this year. Additional information about the Youth Philanthropy Club is available by calling 304-259-5008 or by emailing her at dassistant@tuckerfoundation.net.