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MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT 2: Child Brings Smiles to 28,000

Think you're too young to change the world? Think again. Thirteen-year old Makenzie Snyder has touched the lives of an estimated 28,000 foster children over the last six years.

Snyder has been sending stuffed animal filled duffle bags to foster children since she was 7 years old. She says her mission is to cheer up foster kids who have no real family and no one to really care for them.

When she was 7, Snyder and her two older brothers won an essay contest on the topic "How to Change the World." The prize was a trip to Paris to participate in the World Children's Summit. While at the summit, she met a two foster children. Through this experience she learned that most foster children must bundle up their belongings in garbage bags when moving from home to home.

Snyder recalled how good she feels when cuddling with a stuffed animal when sad or lonely, and it wasn't long before she started making the rounds at garage sales around Maryland collecting items. She titled her project Children to Children.

When the Freddie Mac Foundation found out about Snyder's project, they wanted to help. Soon she found herself meeting with Freddie Mac officials. They liked her ideas so much that they gave her $15,000 and set her up with the Washington Council of Governments who kept the books for her and coordinated the project with regional foster care agencies.

Since then, Snyder has raised $50,000 in contributions and has collected thousands of duffel bags and stuffed animals. Some of her contributors include talk show hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah Whinfrey.

Snyder recently won a national award from the Caring Institute, which was founded in 1985 to honor and promote public service. After she won the award, a donor gave her $5,000, and she is hoping someone else will match the amount so that she can boost her giving even more.

Where does Snyder fill her duffeL bags and store her stuffed animals? In her backyard office, of course! Home Depot and Southern Management Companies built her an office to aid in her project.

Out of the 530,000 foster children in the United states, Snyder estimates that she has reached 28,000 of them. It makes her feel good to help others even though confidentiality rules prohibit her from meeting the foster children.

Snyder says she would like to continue her project forever, until she has reached all 530,000 foster children in the United States.

--Written by Amanda Tassin

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