Coronado local, Jamie Hearther, is a semi-finalist candidate for Military Child of the Year. Operation Homefront, an organization which helps service members and their families with finances and other needs, has released the final list of 100 candidates—20 representing each branch of Service. Jamie and another CMS peer, Jackson Seniff, have both made it to the interview round.
Operation Homefront Child of the Year nominees demonstrate resilience, strength of character, leadership in their communities, and thrive in the face of the challenges of military life. Jamie Hearther, a 7th grader at CMS has displayed incredible leadership in her community, participating in multiple charities and leadership programs.
Photo credit: Kellee Hearther
Jamie first found out about her nomination over winter break, and is extremely excited about the whole candidate process. Sitting down with her and talking about her charities, it is clear that her love and excitement about the different leadership programs she partakes in and charities she is a part of is much greater than awards. She participates in feeding the homeless the 1st Sunday of every month, volunteers at CHS concessions, is a member of the Character Committee at CMS, and serves as an ambassador for new students in the Student to Student program at CMS. She has also participated in Compassion Kids events, celebrating birthdays of Wounded Warriors. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, as a member of Coronado Kids C.A.R.E., Jamie took the initiative to create cans labeled with custom logos and placed them in local Coronado shops to raise money for Hurricane Sandy Relief. She managed to raise $400.
When discussing all her different charities, Jamie’s sole reason for doing them is simply, “because they’re fun”. Her favorite fundraiser is the Veteran’s Day Bake Sale which her family has been running for the past few years. This past year they raised $484.84 selling baked goods with prices determined by donators. All proceeds were sent to the local Wounded Warrior foundation. “It’s one of my favorite events because you get to bake yummy food, and make signs, and raise money for a good cause.” Her favorite community service was Operation Clean Sweep, where she helped San Diego Port Tenants clean up the marshy area of the San Diego Bay. As she described cleaning up the trash and odd objects of the marsh area, she explained, “I loved it because it was like a treasure hunt.”
Jamie’s passion for community service is inspiring with the multitude of charities she takes on and her love for helping out. This month Operation Homefront will announce the finalists for each category who will receive $5,000 and will be flown out to Washington, D.C. for a special recognition ceremony. Best of luck to Jamie and Jackson!
Greer Goebels
Online Editor, Intern
eCoronado.com
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