OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Children Shall Lead Them

Date: Feb. 1, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Minors and Children


CHILDREN SHALL LEAD THEM -- (Extensions of Remarks - February 01, 2006)

SPEECH OF HON. BERNARD SANDERS OF VERMONT IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006

* Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend a group of young people in Vermont who have done a wonderful thing, worth bringing to the attention of my colleagues in the Congress and the American people.

* A group of students in the Sunday School of the United Church in Lincoln, Vermont, have raised over $5,000 dollars for Heifer International. Lincoln is a beautiful community in

the Green Mountains of Vermont, but it is not a large community, so a fundraising effort of this magnitude, for the benefit of a rural village in an underdeveloped country is testimony to how much the youth of America care about the world.

* This project began with conversations about world hunger. Students, as young as 3 and as old as 14, decided that raising money for Heifer International would be a good way to address, positively, the issue of world hunger.

* Many people are trapped by poverty, underdevelopment, and the impossibility of finding the resources they need for self-improvement. Heifer International believes in self-help: if human beings are given the tools they need, they can improve their lives. So Heifer International provides livestock, education in agriculture, and small business counseling, so individuals and entire communities get a hand up instead of a handout.

* Over the course of 18 months the kids of the United Church Sunday School made countless cow-shaped cookies and holiday ornaments and sold them for a dollar each. It took a lot of cookies and ornaments to reach the goal of $5,000. They were helped by the school superintendent, Chris Bohjalian and a group of dedicated Sunday school teachers. But the real effort, the real credit, goes to the young people, for on this past Christmas Eve, their goal of $5,000 was reached.

* An ``ark'' of farm animals will be delivered to a village, most likely in Armenia, the gift of visionary and committed children from Lincoln, Vermont. According to Pastor David Wood, the ark will have everything ``from fish to llamas to cows. And chickens and pigs, and also trees to provide ongoing food and medicinals.''

* Yes, we do live in a global village, and our children are showing us how it can be rich in generosity and neighborliness.

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