TEENS MOTIVATED BY A NEED TO HELP OTHERS

Many 13 year old girls aren't concerned about children in third world
countries or their friends taking drugs - that's what makes Julia
Murphy and Stef Mueller different.

The two Grade 8 Forest Glen students, along with the help of their
friends, have organized fundraisers for tsunami victims, will be
participating in the 30-hour famine and have already taken a strong
stance against using drugs.

Last month, the girls and two friends, Stacey Finney and Sarah Mark,
set up a booth at Foodland to sell apple cider to raise money for the
tsunami and they also raised money by sleeping outside in a tent on a
cold January Friday night and getting pledges at their cider table.

"We slept all night in the cold," Julia says, noting the weekend
fundraiser raised $306, with all the money going to charity because
mom donated the products.

The event, while a little chilly, was something Stef says everyone
enjoyed.

"It's so much fun and at the same time, you're doing something good
for the community and the world," she says.

It's this attitude that keeps the girls interested in helping others
and unlike some of their classmates, these girls aren't happy just
sitting on the couch.

"I don't like watching those shows with poor children who don't have
anything," Julia says. "Instead of watching TV, we could be doing something."

And Stef agrees, adding "Nothing gets done by sitting on the
couch."

Both girls are involved with the Student Activities Council at school,
but have branched out to do things on their own. Both the girls are
founding members of YTAD, Young Teens Against Drugs.

"With the YTAD thing, I thought about if one of my friends got
involved with drugs, I could help them," Stef says, adding she gets a
lot of inspiration from Chicken Soup for the Soul books she's been
reading.

"YTAD came out of nowhere. I've always had a strong feeling about
drugs," Stef says, adding she knew CLEAN founding member Gwen Cook and
knew about the drug problems her son found himself in. "It affected me
because I felt their pain and I want to save people from that."

And the girls hope their strong stance against drugs will affect the
younger students in their school, who often look to emulate their
older peers.

"Kids that are little start acting like older kids. You see a guy in
Grade 12 smoking, so you want to do it too," Julia says.

The girls have been part of a few fundraisers for YTAD, including
selling hot dogs and also doing a community clean-up, where they
gathered pledges to clean a certain area of New Hamburg. When the
group starts up again this spring, Stef says she's hoping to do even
more fundraising and awareness in the community. And it's being vocal,
Julia says, that will make youth stop and think before they do drugs.

"Being silent is a part of the problem," Julia says, adding ignoring
drugs is like ignoring bullying. "If you're not saying anything,
you're a bystander and you're saying it's okay."

While the two will continue to do fundraising at school, Julia is
planning on taking on a couple of extra fundraising projects in the
coming months. She will be doing the 30 Hour Famine soon and she is
also considering adopting a child in a third world country with the
money she makes from delivering the New Hamburg Independent each week.

"I was watching TV and there was one little four year old girl and she
was so sad," Julia says. "I know I would want someone to help me."

Both girls agree their fundraisers not only help make money for those
in need, but also inform people about what is happening in the
community and around the world. They say they want to be out there
fundraising to make it easy for people to donate and learn about the
cause.

"We can make it so easy, if we're right there when they come out of
the grocery store and they give us their change and we give them a cup
of cider. Everyone wants to help out," Julia says.

"Doing fundraisers makes it so easy for people to help the community,"
Stef says. "And if you can make a small difference, then it's worth
it."

It's time for local residents to Spring Into Action at the follow-up
meeting to the Developing Assets in Young People: You Matter! workshop,
held last fall. The meeting will look at what has been done to help youth
develop their skills and talents over the past few months and also look
forward to what else can be done. The meeting is April 6 at 7 p.m. in the
Wilmot Community Room at the Wilmot Township Office. For more information,
call 662-2731.