Katy Henry, a sixth grader at Community Middle School learned a valuable lesson in economics and philanthropy in 2003. She had collected $12.75 in nickels, dimes, and quarters, for an individual volunteer service project for the Community Helpers Club at the school. After doing research and learning about HomeFront, the young Plainsboro resident decided to donate the money she had raised to this organization, which is dedicated to helping the homeless become self-sufficient (www.homefrontnj.org).
“I thought that the $12.75 could be used to buy something that a homeless child might need,” says Katy. Her parents, Rona and Robert Henry, doubled the collection when they wrote a check to HomeFront for $25. Rona Henry, who works at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was able to quintuple the $25 through the foundation’s charitable donation program’s 5:1 policy. With the foundation’s $125, the total contribution to HomeFront totaled $162.75.
“Now this is philanthropy at its best,” Ruthellen Rubin, HomeFront’s director of development, recalls saying to herself as she called Katy Henry on a snowy day in December.
“Our biggest challenge is to make the community aware of the issue of homelessness,” Rubin told Katy. “Katy, I absolutely love that you stood in your school lunchroom for four days telling every middle school student who walked by about the need to pay attention to the fact that there are children in Mercer County who do not have a home. You had the idea; your parents were supportive; and Robert Wood Johnson indicated their pleasure by magnifying the contribution, fivefold. You involved a lot of good people and made a huge impact.”
“When Mrs. Rubin explained the full impact of my donation,” says Kate, “I realized that $162.75 could help a needy family pay a month’s utility bill.”
As part of their services to act as a safety net to help a family maintain their independence, Rubin explains, HomeFront occasionally helps a client in its Transition Living program with a utility bill during a difficult month. “I applaud Community Middle School, Katy, her parents, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” says Rubin. “As we say at HomeFront: Together, as a community, we know we can build a better world!”
