Young do-gooder gets local, maybe national, nods
Published: February 10, 2006
Since before back in the day, children have been taught to follow the lead of their elders. But on March 1, the Marion Polk Food Share folks are hoping to turn that axiom on its ear and get Mid-Valley adults to follow the lead of an ambitious 8-year-old with a shock of blond hair and a huge, dimpled grin.
Mikey Rolens, readers might remember, helped his second-grade class at Salem Heights Elementary School tip the scales to more than 600 pounds of donations for a Christmas food drive for the school community’s neediest members.
He brought in close to 100 pounds and did so by going door to door in his neighborhood because his family couldn’t afford to donate any food. Then it turned out that Mikey’s family was one of the intended recipients of the food drive’s 2,793-pound largesse.
The story so impressed Ron Hays, executive director of the food bank, that he contacted principal Sara Casebeer to ask if Mikey and his teacher, Michelle Casian, could help kick off Marion Polk Food Share’s largest food drive of the year, the Rotary Food Drive, which begins March 1.
“We’ve invited Mikey to be our guest of honor because he’s such an inspiration and good example for the rest of us,” Hays said. “But we hope he will help us raise more than just food. We hope he will raise awareness about what it’s like to be involved in the community. We hope people will see this 8-year-old doing everything he can to help end hunger and decide to volunteer.”
Mikey’s mom, Summer Bock, said Mikey is thrilled about the invitation, though he doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.
“He said, ‘What’s the big deal? It’s easy to raise food,’” Bock said. “He’s pretty innocent about these things. He told me he’s a little nervous about the public-speaking part, but I know that he’s very, very excited about the getting-out-of-school part. He reminds me about that almost daily.”
Hays said the food bank is making a video next week of Mikey, his teacher, his mom and his class. The tape will feature vignettes of Mikey telling his story, the class talking about winning the school’s ice-cream-sundae prize and re-enactments of Mikey going door-to-door to solicit food from his neighbors.
The three- or four-minute tape will be shown at the kick-off luncheon to get the crowd pumped before Mikey gives his speech, Hays said.
Portions of the tape also will be sent to the producers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which has requested a quasi-audition of Mikey speaking about his experiences. Staff at the Burbank, Calif.-based show also were impressed with Mikey’s generosity.
Bock hasn’t mentioned the DeGeneres show inquiry to Mikey because she doesn’t want him to get so excited that he can’t concentrate on school and the honor of launching the Rotary’s food drive.
“We know that children who get involved in their communities at a young age stay involved. In fact, many of our civic leaders today were active children. We want Mikey to remind adults who might have missed those lessons that it’s never too late to give. And we’re pleased to help in any way to get Mikey’s example out there.”
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