Mackenzie Olson was crowned Miss New Jersey Junior National Teenager and is using her title to promote good causes -- she chose to support She's the First!
One of our She’s the First Peer Advisors, Kaitlin Davis, competes in New Jersey pageants, and like many young women, uses them as a powerful platform for articulating messages of change. When she mentors junior contestants, she tells them about She’s the First’s educational mission, and one girl, Mackenzie Olson, ran with it! No wonder she won the title of Miss New Jersey Junior National Teenager. Here’s how she’s raising money to sponsor a girl at the Kopila Valley Children’s Home in Nepal via She’s the First.
Mackenzie put Pocket Change for Change collections boxes at salons and at The Red Carpet Prom and Pageant boutique during prom season. She has raised $160 so far and on May 29th she is having a charity yard sale to raise even more money! She’ll be selling various childhood toys she doesn’t use anymore, like her American Girl doll collection.
Kenzie decided to fundraise for a She’s the First sponsorship because she said, “I feel that it is only right that everyone has a chance to get an education. I wanted to support She’s the First’s effort to make young girls like myself be the best they can be, so they have the chance to be the first!” Mackenzie has chosen to raise money for the Kopila Valley Children’s Home because the founder, Maggie Doyne, is a Jersey girl herself. She also hopes to become a pen pal to the young Nepali girl she sponsors.
Photo of a Nepali village girl, taken by Maggie Doyne, founder of the Kopila Valley Children's Home. You can sponsor a girl for $300 a year!
In Kenzie’s own words, here is what she wrote on her Pocket Change for Change fliers:
Enable girls in developing nations to have a better future through education!
We in America take for granted our public education, while in developing nations some girls never have the option to attend school. With an education these girls can overcome poverty, grow up to be leaders, and better their world. Your pocket change will help a young girl who may in turn become the first in her family to graduate, the first female president of her country, or even the first to discover a life-saving drug. It’s possible that “She’s the First,” but only with your help! Every girl deserves the chance to be the first.”
