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Whiz Kids of the Week: Local Teens Brought Hunger Awareness and Raised Funds for World Vision

Youths share their "30 Hour Famine" experience with Sierra Madre.

Teens from , , and Maranatha High School spent Saturday fasting to experience hunger in a very small way, and helped spread awareness in town of the worldwide hunger crisis.

If you drove or walked through downtown Sierra Madre on Saturday, you likely ran into local teens with banners, handouts and “post-it art” to help deliver their message.

World Vision, an international organization headquartered locally in Monrovia, helps and serves the poor in nearly 100 countries, helping to build a healthy future with work in maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition, HIS and AIDS, Malaria, water, sanitation and hygiene, agriculture, disaster response, education and more.

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According to their website, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve close to 100 million people in nearly 100 countries around the world. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

The organization’s 30 Hour Famine Program has been used by 20,000 churches to bring worldwide hunger to a personal level for students, according to World Vision representative, Melody Wilson, who worked with the local students last weekend. During the thirty food-free hours there were church based activities at both the Bethany and Sierra Madre Congregational campuses, as well as their presence in town.

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“The best part of my job,” Wilson said, “is getting into the community and seeing the teenagers in action. Seeing them while they are hungry, raising awareness and raising money. It does something for a community to see young people shifting the focus onto something that is going on the in world. Not just thinking about it, but acting, to the point of sacrificing their meals and working for a cause outside of themselves.”

The teens passed out informational flyers from World Vision about malnutrition’s association with over half of the 22,000 children who die each day around the work from preventable diseases.

If you didn’t have your wallet with you last Saturday, and still want to donate to or volunteer with World Vision, visit their website or call (888) 511-6548.

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