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Community Corner

Second Grade CEO Donates $3,300 to Fairfax Camps

Rachel Harris, 7, founded the non-profit Lets Help Kids

Most company presidents deliberate power plays with company budgets and goals mounted on color presentations in stuffy boardrooms. Rachel Harris, president and founder of LetsHelpKids.org/ would rather talk business from her mom’s kitchen floor while making a yellow, pink and white charm bracelet.

The seven year old and rising second grader at Little River Elementary in South Riding founded the company two years ago because she wanted to be a big boss like her parents and she wanted her company to help other people.

This summer, Let’s Help Kids donated $3,300 to cover six weeks of all day summer camp for 11 children from low income families in Fairfax County.

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“We wanted to help kids whose parents did not have any money,” Rachel said.

According to Bright Futures, a group partnering with Rachel and county park authorities, camp activities incorporate the Fairfax County Public Schools’ Character Counts program with emphasis on the development of good decision-making skills. Camp activities will also include lessons on fitness and nutrition, indoor and outdoor games, sports, nature, crafts, talent shows and community service activities.

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Like most kids, Rachel and her mother sorted through her clothes and toys, donating some to less fortunate children, but Sterling said she just about drove off the road when Rachel piped up from the back seat that she wanted to have her own company. The idea came to Rachel after reading Carol McCloud’s popular children’s book “Have you Filled a Bucket Today?”

“I was excited about it,” Sterling said. “I feel very strongly that kids should know they can grow their own opportunity, that they don’t have to grow up and get a job. I think too often we raise our kids and try to squash all the creativity out of them. I want her to grow up and know that she can do absolutely anything.”

Sterling researched the idea, then cashed a dormant retirement account to fund the project. She said funds for the organization come mostly from friends, family and strangers who have heard abut LHK, but there have been surprises at the post office too, like a check from the author McCloud.

“We were dancing at the post office,” Sterling said.

At the beginning of every month case workers from Northern Virginian Family Services in Manassas call Rachel and Sterling with a list of kids in their care who will be having a birthday that month. The mother and daughter duo then pick out birthday presents based on the child’s gender, interests, wishes and hobbies. Typical gifts are soccer shoes, toys and of course, bikes.

“We want kids to feel like kids,” Sterling said. “There are so many other groups doing the food and shelter and clothing and education. We do what is necessary for a kid, which is the birthday present, the bicycle and going to summer camp.”

Like any other CEO, Rachel makes presentations about her organization and takes trips to deliver her company’s product but she can be playful without anyone accusing her of acting juvenile. During last the fundraising gala her guest tried to make her fly by tying balloons on to her. She cleared the ground.

“It felt like I was tied to a thousand little clouds,” Rachel said.

Rachel plans to expand her organization to neighboring areas like Arlington and Alexandria and may be even opening a branch in New York. She also wants to help adults.

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