A child's homegrown charity just got $5,000 dollars richer.
That's thanks to an award ABC7 won for good news reporting given by the Sacramento Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, for a story we first aired last in 2007 about 11-year-old Tyler Page.
"It really helps the cause, because it takes away that $5,000 dollars that's really hard to get," said Tyler Page.
Tyler Page founded a group called Kids Helping Kids With Nothing. The fifth grader got the idea from an episode of Oprah, that exposed the brutal system of illegal child trafficking in Ghana.
Now after a year of selling lemonade, cookies, car washes and haircuts, Tyler's group has raised more than $38,000 dollars. It's enough money to keep 165 kids in Ghana from being sold into labor by the parents.
"I feel really good because now they're free and they get to stay with their parents and eat better food, other than raw fish," said Ryan Page, Tyler's brother.
Ryan is part of Kids Helping Kids along with their mom Laura, who serves as executive director.
"It's really about educating children and inspiring others to believe in themselves to make a difference," said Laura Page, Executive Director of Kids Helping Kids.
At first Tyler's group included mostly family and close friends, but then he started recruiting classmates here at Discovery Bay Elementary.
More than 300 local kids have participated and they've expanded their mission, sending candy to troops in Iraq and helping a local family in need.
Kids Helping Kids also sent 500 backpacks to the children in Ghana, who sent back their own homemade expression of thanks.
"I learned that it's great to help people. You don't have to help people for things they give you, you just do it because it's the right thing to do," said Tyler Page.
Kids Helping Kids With Nothing
1748 Cherry Hills Drive
Discovery Bay, CA 94505
(925) 759-4806
KHKWN@sbcglobal.net
