THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Handing over the contents of his piggy bank wasn't enough for 8-year-old Steven Grafton when he learned that the child-advocacy center his mother runs was short of money last year.
So Steven, who with his 10-year-old brother, Sean, had donated his savings and allowance to Kids First Inc., started carrying his cause to school.
His ``Kids Helping Kids'' club has helped raise about $60 for the Elizabeth City-based center that serves physically and sexually abused children in seven northeastern North Carolina counties.
More importantly, the club has raised awareness about an issue often kept behind closed doors.
The efforts of Steven and his friends have caught the attention of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, which gave the club its Donna Stone Memorial Award Tuesday at a conference in Raleigh.
The award, named for the national program's founder, recognizes those whose efforts have contributed to child-abuse prevention.
``The fact that these children are not afraid to speak out against child abuse and that they believe they personally can help abused children has led many adults to realize that they, too, can have an impact,'' the nomination essay said.
``Although the amount raised is small, the committed efforts of Steven's group has increased public awareness of child-abuse prevention and the important services provided by Kids First.''
The group raises its money in pennies, nickles and dimes, rewarding contributors with homemade color-by-number books, picture magazines and other prizes, the nomination said.
Along with Steven and Sean, the award-winning group includes Dominic Price, Phillip Williams, Neil Smithson, Shannon Daoust and Jimmy Myers.
This is the first time children have received the Donna Stone award, said Jennifer Tolle, executive director of North Carolina's Committee to Prevent Child Abuse.
``They made a speech, and the whole audience was moved by their work,'' Tolle said.
Kids First, which has a budget of more than $100,000 a year, unexpectedly lost out on a $63,000 state grant last July that was to carry the agency through this fiscal year.
The organization has been scrambling since, relying on community support to keep its doors open.
Executive director Cynthia Grafton, mother of the award-winning kids club founder, said this month that the agency has been awarded the state Crime Commission funding for the coming year. by CNB