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Every year since 2005, The Children’s Museum has recognized incredible youth who have impacted their communities with extraordinary service. The Power of Children Awards, inspired by the Power of Children: Making a Difference exhibit, awards these winners with a partial university scholarship to IUPUI, UIndy, or Butler University along with a $2,000 grant to continue their philanthropic projects.
We’re highlighting each winner with a further look into the service projects they’ve built to transform their community. Today’s winner is Anthony O’Leary, who used his personal story to raise money to recruit and train advocates for foster kids.
Name: Anthony O’Leary
Grade: 9
City: San Diego, CA
Project: Voices for Children—Speaking, Fundraising, and Recruiting
Anthony was a victim of physical and verbal abuse and neglect from his parents, until Child Protective Services stepped in. Even then, Anthony felt silenced by the massive size of the legal system around foster care. In his application essay, he wrote:
In 2014, there were 62,097 foster children in California. Normally, judges have 500 cases, attorneys represent 150 children, and social workers have 25 cases...All of a sudden, my world was turned upside down. I had people asking questions, telling me what to say, and saying horrible things about my loved ones...They watched my visits and listened to my phone calls. It was overwhelming. I didn’t know who to trust. I was finally assigned a CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocate]. My world changed because he spoke up for me.
Court Appointed Special Advocates are recruited and trained by the organization Voices for Children—and Anthony was one of those children. Being a CASA is completely voluntary. Anthony was so grateful to have a CASA by his side, that he wanted other foster children to have more access to the advocates.
Anthony took his own personal story, polished it, and spoke at events for Voices for Children—turning the organization’s title into action—voices of children. He is the youngest person to ever speak on the organization’s behalf. In one particular fundraising event, $1.2 million was raised within 15 minutes after Anthony’s speech.
In one night, we raised enough to pay for [training] nearly 600 new CASAs. That means that 600 more lives will be touched by a caring person...I plan to continue speaking on the panel to help recruit new CASAs….I think if I helped change the direction of one child’s life, it would be worth the time.
Anthony plans to use his award to train more CASAs and plan more fundraising events like a 5K run or pancake breakfast. He is continuing to share his story as a Voices for Children panelist and is currently applying to become a foster youth mentor.
I think if I could share my experiences with those just starting out in the system, it could help ease their fears.
Congratulations, Anthony. And thank you for your continued efforts to change the futures of children for the better.
