KidsAreHeroes.com, a website run by the local father-daughter team of Gabe and MaryMargaret O'Neill, is making an impact in the Frederick community and beyond.Gabe created KidsAreHeroes.com in March, with the help of MaryMargaret. Their goal was to showcase children who make a positive difference in their communities and influence others to do the same.
A Kids Are Heroes Day on Saturday at the Francis Scott Key Mall will showcase at least 10 of the young heroes featured on the website, Gabe said.
Each child will have a table set up in the center of the mall to solicit donations for the organization of his or her choice. At the end of the day, FSK mall will donate $250 to the hero who has raised the most money, according to Christina Steinbrenner, the mall's marketing director.
Additionally, every month over the next year, the coins collected in the mall's fountain will be put toward a hero's charity. On average, about $200 in coins is tossed into the fountain each month, Steinbrenner said.
MaryMargaret, who organized a lemonade stand with her friends in June to benefit children with cancer, will be the first hero honored with the fountain coins. The proceeds will go to the Frederick County Animal Shelter.
Steinbrenner hopes Kids are Heroes Day becomes a tradition at the FSK mall.
"What better way to service the community than to be able to show what the kids are doing," she said.
Local adult heroes will emcee the event. They include Jeannine Milyard, a teacher at Rock Creek School; Colleen McCarrick, a McDaniel College freshman who founded Kids Theater, a Myersville fundraiser; Lt. George Thomas, a volunteer firefighter; and Amy Dockendorf, who recently held a benefit concert for American troops and Darfur refugees.
Gabe and MaryMargaret are pleased their website is having an effect.
"This is awesome," Gabe said. "I'm just having a ball doing this."
|
