Welcome to American Idle No More!

Reprinted from BabagaNewz magazine with permission from The AVI CHAI Foundation and Jewish Family & Life! Visit us online at www.babaganewz.com or call us at 800-434-3934.

Meet our finalists, all of whom refused to "stand idly by" when their help was needed. BabagaNewz has distributed $1,000 among these finalists' causes based on your votes.

RESULTS:

• Dennis Fries - Operation Noah - $430 (43%)
• Jenna Cohen - Freeing Slaves - $310 (31%)
• Carrie Gartner and Shayna Meliker - Miles for Miracles - $260 (26%)

Congratulations to everyone and thanks for voting!

 

Dennis Fries - Operation Noah

13-year-old Dennis Fries created Operation Noah. He collects stuffed animals and donates them to hospitals to give to children in their care. Dennis has organized his entire community to help in raising awareness and organizing the operation. So far he has collected and hand delivered about 8,000 stuffed animals to local Arizona hospitals. He hopes to expand the operation nationwide.

 

Jenna Cohen - Freeing Slaves

As her Bat Mitzvah project, Jenna Cohen decided to work to free Sudanese slaves. After becoming aware of modern day slavery by reading an issue of BabagaNewz, Jenna set out to raise money to buy the freedom for slaves. It costs $36 to free one slave. Through selling friendship bracelets to everyone in her community, Jenna has raised enough money to free 16 slaves. As happy as she is to free 16 people, Jenna is still concerned for the millions of others still enslaved.

 

Carrie Gartner and Shayna Meliker - Miles for Miracles

Carrie Gartner and Shayna Meliker are working to find a cure for Crohn's disease by raising money through their walk-a-thon, Miles for Miracles. After learning of their teacher's disease, Carrie and Shayna began planning the walk-a-thon. An October 2003 event raised $57,000; another in 2004 raised $53,000. Their goal is to raise enough money to find a cure for Crohn's disease.