Junco Hill Press: Youth Changing Lives

Guest blog contributed by Zachary and Caroline Weller


Hi, my name is Zachary Weller and I am 14 years old and my sister Caroline is 11. We are the editors of the Junco Hill Press. The Junco Hill Press is our homeschool newspaper that we have written for the past 8 years. We put out 3 issues a year and invite family and friends to write and contribute to our paper.

We charge a small amount for our newspaper and donate the money to charity. Thanks to generous donations we have raised $2,000 in 8 years. After our first issue in 2013, we donated the $20 we raised to Pure Water for the World. This most recent issue raised $200 and since it was my last issue as editor, I’m going to high school next year, I wanted to donate it to Pure Water for the World again.

(Photo: Zach, in 2014, donating $53 from the newspaper to Amigos de Honduras at his first Bow Rotary Meeting.)

Over the years Pure Water for the World and Amigos de Honduras have been two charities we donated to again and again. Our Kids in Service NH Club has also organized a few projects to help the people of Honduras. We had a school supply drive for one of the new schools, collected medical supplies and sent holiday gifts (see photo, circa 2016) to children down there.


Our grandfather, Chris Parkinson, is a big part of Amigos de Honduras and does work with Pure Water for the World. He is a Rotarian in Bow, NH and he has been to Honduras 15 times. He has built schools, installed water filters for PWW, helped with medical supplies and has built latrines. In 2018, the Escuela Rotaria Chris Parkinson school was built. Below is a picture of our grandfather in front of the school named after him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our grandfather has shown us that you can help people all over the world. He helps people and gives them a better way of life with clean water, schools and medicine. Our grandfather is inspiring and we are proud of him. He even jumped out of a plane in 2019 to support Pure Water for the World!

(Photo: Zach and Caroline share congratulations signs after the Jump for Safe Water in 2019.)

(Photo: Zach and Caroline holding up Spring 2019 Issue of Junco Hill Press. They donated $100 raised from this issue to PWW to support their grandfather jumping out of a plane during a PWW fundraiser.)


My sister Caroline is now taking over as editor in chief of our newspaper and plans to continue to donate money to Pure Water for the World. She says that, “All people deserve clean water!”

(photo: Zach and Caroline with their grandparents, Chris and Janine Parkinson)


The entire team at PWW shares our heartfelt gratitude with Zachary, Caroline, Chris, Janine and their amazing family, who have spent years sharing their passion and commitment to safe water and sanitation with the people of Honduras. Their generous support has dramatically improved the lives of so many grateful children and families. Thank you, Zachary and Caroline, for sharing your story and for inspiring so many others to get involved with helping to bring clean water to all. You are making an impactful and lasting difference in the world!