YAH to promote clean water campaign in Booster Parade

• Youth Action Hudson volunteers with 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi

Youth Action Hudson volunteers attended Peace Jam and spoke with 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi who received the prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights in Iran. The YAH representatives told her about their campaign for clean water and sanitation. Pictured with Ebadi and her translator are, from left, Deena Whitman, Ian Egeberg and YAH staffer and AmeriCorps member Samantha Otten. Submitted photo
• YAH volunteers designed these two posters

YAH youth volunteers designed these two posters along with two more that they hope to install on restroom doors around the area to raise awareness and their involvement in a global clean water and sanitation effort. Submitted graphic

Talk about it

The annual Booster Day parade always features lots of local color and this year it will include a very special piece of plumbing.

To promote their clean water and sanitation campaign, “Don’t Just Sit There,” YAH staffer and AmeriCorps member Samantha Otten has created a toilet out of cardboard that will feature prominently on the float along with placards that feature posters designed by YAH youth volunteers that highlight the concerns of the campaign.

The effort is just one of similar service learning projects across the country through the organization H2O for Life which partners young people like those from YAH with a school in a developing nation in need of clean water.

About 15 YAH volunteers have collaborated on the campaign. At the annual Peace Jam conference in the Twin Cities, YAH volunteers and staff had the opportunity to discuss their campaign with 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi who received the prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights in Iran.

According to Otten, the YAH volunteers created four posters that deliver some facts and things to think about when it comes to clean water. Their goal is to have the posters laminated and then posted on the doors of bathroom stalls in restrooms all around Hudson. “We figure it is a way to reach a kind of captive audience with an important message,” said Otten.

Ian Egeberg attended Peace Jam and described it as a “cool experience.”

“To listen to the Nobel Laureates’ stories and to be able to talk with them was an incredibly opportunity,” said Egeberg.

Ruby Johnson said she was drawn to the campaign as a way to learn about something far beyond Hudson. “It has been really good to learn about something outside of our own community. When it comes to clean water, it is so much different than what we are used to and what we take for granted,” said the sophomore at Hudson High School.

HHS junior Ellen Snyder said the Peace Jam conference inspired her. “Meeting different people from all over the country and having the chance to talk and get to know them. You just don’t get a chance like that all the time. You start to understand why people are so dedicated to a cause.”

Sadie Kroll felt similarly, “Peace Jam is a chance to get involved with different issues around the world. It is really a global call to action that we can answer on a local level.”

Watch for the YAH float in Saturday’s parade. For more information about YAH, go to www.youthactionhudson.org or call (715) 386-9803. To learn more about the clean water campaign and service learning, go to www.h2oforlifeschools.org.

Tags: news, education, environment