A group of Army Junior ROTC students at Zephyrhills High School want children to grow up with the same opportunities they’ve had.
Being in Army Junior ROTC is about leadership.
“It teaches you all the basics about discipline and the army and military in general,” said Army Junior ROTC at Zephyrhills High School, Dylan Shatraw. It also teaches humility.
Last year the JROTC students decided to help children in Africa.
“We learned in Ghana that all these children don’t have the same opportunities to learn and go through high school or become doctors," said Army Junior ROTC at Zephyrhills High School, Jaclyn Debolt.
So they began collecting hundreds of books.
“They speak a different language and they wanted to learn our language,” said Army Junior ROTC at Zephyrhills High School, Jade Speckhardt.
They shipped them to a school in Ghana. They didn’t expect anything in return but they received a heartwarming video.
The children all said in sync, “Thank you Zephyrhills High School, we love you, hooray!”
“I started crying and tearing up because I felt awesome making a difference in somebody else’s life that I had never even met,” said Speckhardt.
“It made me feel really good to be able to help someone else out besides just ourselves in America,” said Shatraw.
The students plan to do the same thing this year. The only challenge is getting the books to Ghana. The group was able to collect 842. But it costs $400 a barrel to get them there.
They just hope the community will see the joy they’ve seen by helping these children.
The books will be sent out as soon as enough money is fundraised to ship them. For more information visit the group's GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/booksforAfricaZHS.
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