Moira Landry, age 13

  When I was nine years old, my mom took me to New York for a weekend trip during February. We were walking down a busy street and a woman came up to my mom and asked her to spare a dollar so she could buy a lunch. I noticed that she had a big bag with her, and she looked very tired. After she left with the dollar, I asked my mom why she had that big bag. My mom explained to me that the woman was probably homeless, so she kept all of her things in the bag to carry with her. After hearing this explanation, I felt very upset, and I immediately knew that I wanted to help people like her. So, when we got back home, I called all of my friends and asked them if they wanted to start a club that helped homeless people.

Thinking about it now, it was kind of funny how earnest I was after just seeing one homeless person in New York. Not funny in a bad way, but I didn’t know that a nine year old could be that determined. Well, I was, and look at where I am now…

   As for my club, it was called Helping Homeless Now (HHN) and we  got as far as having a bottle drive andcraft sale to raise money for a local agency that supplies underprivledged kids with things that they need.  We then began to volunteer on a regular basis.  HHN eventually stopped getting together, but I never stopped volunteering.  Now, four years after the birth and death of HHN, I’ve volunteered countless hours (probably close to 1000 over the past couple of years) at different agencies that help the homeless, had clothing and toy drives for homeless and underprivileged children, sacrificed my twelfth birthday party to help make people more about homelessness and volunteering, won 5 awards and gone to Washington for my efforts in making a difference.  All of these experiences have been amazing, but for me this is just the beginning. 
 
  When most people hear about my story, their reaction is usually
 “Wait, you did that? But, why??” oh, and my favorite: 
                                                                        “But…you’re TWELVE!?”  
 

   Yes, I am “TWELVE” (well, now thirteen) and NOW here I am running my own non-profit organization, ready to take on anything and still hoping to change people’s lives,  as I have since I was nine.   

My art pack may not make everything better in their lives or fix everything that’s wrong, but I want homeless kids in my state to know that there is someone out there their own age that cares about what they’re going through.  

What I also aim to do, besides the art packs, is to open people eyes to the problem of homelessness and to try to help them understand what I’ve focused my life on for three years and continue to do so.  I also want to educate other kids about homelessness and volunteerism and how important it is to make volunteering a part of your life.   My dream is to keep raising awareness and reaching out, until someday every single kid in this country has a home, and is happy. I know it is a big dream and may seem unreachable, but something that I’ve realized through my experiences is, that if I believe in something, I can do it, just like when I was nine.