Photo by Bill Green Gabe O'Neill and his daughter, MaryMargaret, 9, have combined their talents to create KidsareHeroes.com to showcase children who make a difference in the Frederick Community and to encourage others to do the same.
	On the Web n www.kidsareheroes.com If you go n What: Kids are Heroes Lemonade Stand n When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday n Where: Outside Flights of Fancy at Everedy Square, 20 N. East St. n For details, contact Gabe O’Neill at gabe@kidsareheroes.com

It all starts with a website.

In March, O'Neill, a software developer from Ijamsville, launched KidsareHeroes.com to showcase children who make a difference in the Frederick Community and to encourage others to do the same. The idea began with MaryMargaret.

"MaryMargaret came to me and said, 'Daddy, I want you to make a website for me,'" said O'Neill, who in 2006 founded Wags for Hope, a nonprofit organization in Frederick that takes dogs to nursing homes and hospitals.

Originally MaryMargaret wanted to dedicate the website to helping animals, but O'Neill decided not to stop there.

"Why not see if we can help people too?" he said. "So we kind of came up with Kids are Heroes."

Although she is only going into the fifth grade, MaryMargaret is as keen to help others as her father.

"I think it's really nice to help people and animals," she said.

For her ninth birthday, MaryMargaret, who wants to be a veterinarian, took donations for the Defenders of Wildlife, an organization for preserving endangered animals, instead of presents. She also occasionally goes with her family and their two Bernese mountain dogs, Charlie and Lily, to visit nursing homes for Wags for Hope.

But with Kids are Heroes, MaryMargaret is just as involved as her father.

"We're equal partners on this one," O'Neill said.

The website originally started as a teaching tool for MaryMargaret, helping her write and learn about computers, O'Neill said.

"It ended up developing into a lot more than just that," he said.

So far, 11 children, two of whom are from out of state, have been honored by Kids are Heroes.

Honorees receive a certificate and their pictures and stories are featured on the website. O'Neill hopes that reading these stories will inspire other children to come up with their own ideas to help others.

"If parents take their kids to this website they can see what other kids are doing," O'Neill said. "Kids can see how easy it is to make a pretty good effect on people."

O'Neill is working on adding a list of local and national nonprofit organizations to the website so children who are interested in making a difference will know where to turn.

Even though KidsareHeroes.com has only been online for three months, word is spreading. The site gets an average of 50 hits a day, O'Neill said.

"We sent the link to everybody in my contact list and asked everybody to do the same, so it kind of started from there," he said.

Schools in the county are starting to take notice of the website, especially Ballenger Creek Elementary, which has already had two of its students featured by Kids are Heroes.

"Everyone in that school knows about this website," O'Neill said.

O'Neill believes that Kids are Heroes will continue to grow.

"I think it could definitely have a global presence," he said. "If other schools saw what Ballenger Creek is doing, this could be something that is absolutely huge in the future."

On Saturday, Kids are Heroes will hold its first sponsored event. MaryMargaret and her friends will have a lemonade stand outside Flights of Fancy at Everedy Square on North East Street. The proceeds will go toward buying Webkinz, stuffed animals that come with a code to access games and more online, for about 80 children at Camp Friendship in Laytonsville. The camp is run by the Carol Jean Cancer Foundation, an organization that aims to provide free recreational and support programs for children with cancer in the Washington area.