10-year-old makes a difference

10-year-old makes a difference

Amazing story of what a young child can do

By Frank Bradley

Sentinel writer

John Ari, who turns 10 today, has raised thousands of dollars for charity. And he started when he was six.

Speaking to the Clay County Rotary Club on Tuesday, John had to stand in a chair in order to look out over the lectern while he spoke to the club during lunch at the Hinton Center.

John said he has been attending the Rotary Club of Lincolnton in Sunrise, North Carolina since he was two.

When he turned six he asked his dad what it was that the Rotary did. He was told that Rotary International is a club that makes a difference. He then told his father that he would like to make a difference, too.

John picked a project from his dad’s list of charitable projects–furnishing shoes for poor children in Thailand who were going barefooted.

Contributing some of his own allowance as well as talking to that Rotary as well as others at a Rotary picnic, John raised enough money to buy shoes for 94 children in Thailand at a cost of $5.50 a pair. “Getting the shoes,” he said, ” They would no longer have to walk three miles to and from school barefooted.”

With that success, John was asked to help raise money for a water project in India. He was originally asked to raise $5,000, but the club had already committed those funds, so to make that project happen, John spoke to other clubs throughout western North Carolina and raised another $16,000. Also, the District 7670 used some of its Designated Funds to help with the project. All in all, John got commitments for over $43,000 for the project.

In 2010, John worked on a project sponsored by Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library. One in which she sends out a book a month to a child from the day it is born until the child turns 5-years old. These are provided to a family at no cost; however the books cost on average $2.33. John struck out speaking for that project with great success.

This year, he has been asked by the new Rotary District Governor to help with a Wheelchair project to furnish wheelchairs for disabled.

In travels with his father, John has attended Rotary District meetings in several states and even in Canada.

John’s father, Hilmi Ari, who brought John to Hayesville and introduced him to the club said across the Rotary world, he is not known by his own name, but as John’s father.

John Ari was the Clay County Rotary Club’s first program speaker. He made quite a hit as he is no doubt making a big, big difference in service to others.