My name is Luke Merchlewitz and for the past 25 years I have been an elementary classroom teacher and have been able to touch the future every day in my work. Twice in the last three years my students and I have volunteered with the Winona Community Foundation. The Youth in Philanthropy program is, at the broadest level, our Winona youth giving of their time and (decision making process) to volunteer. Through adult partnerships and having a voice, our youth are reminding the adults in their world what matters and what is important to them. I would like you to know that the procedures and guidelines set up in the Winona Youth in Philanthropy program come to me as the classroom teacher from this foundation. Together, with personnel from the Community Foundation office, we deliver the lessons of this unique, service-learning opportunity. What I find very unique and refreshing about this experience is that the organizations applying for funds and their grant writers need to know who specifically is reading, critiquing and evaluating grant requests. Grant applications for $ need to be written, developed and presented in one of three students aged categories. Those categories include: elementary, middle / high school or college students. Now working with 2nd graders, it is a necessity that the grants be printed or typed and come with pictures and drawings explaining what they need - what they are asking for and requesting. Vocabulary and sentence structure in the application needs to be appropriate, as for in my case, for a young beginning reader. Agencies such as: the Humane Society, DAC, Ready Set School may provide pictures and visuals. That secret always scores higher points from children and receive continuous “oohs and ahhs� from the students. The children take their work seriously. Through a rigorous decision making process, complete with checklists, discussion and problem solving, including ranking, debating and dividing up their allocations, children reach consensus. As the adult - It is important to me that I remain unbiased & neutral in their work and decision. I must admit that I do, however, need to remind them that they are not keeping the money and just sometimes exactly how much a $1000 is. But, once all the pieces are in place, the decisions completed and awards are made the children feel glad and sad at the same time. They are truly heartbroken that not everyone’s grant receives money. But they feel extremely proud that some adults trusted them and really needed their help in making a tough decision. When I mentioned to some W-K students that I had been invited to visit with a bunch of grown ups tonight about Youth in Philanthropy they wanted me to make sure you know what this project is and why they would like to see it continue. Hannah shared that Philanthropy is “a good experience, and that it is a time when I got to think of others, rather than myself.� She told me she learned, “giving people stuff feels good inside.� She wanted me to tell you that “you should care for this program because if someday something really bad happens to you or sometime you really want money for something she just might be the person to give it to you!� When visiting with Dalton, he said that his YiP experiences provided a “good feeling inside that I helped somebody who has needs.� I also have to tell you that Dalton was also the student and stickler for details. While reviewing and reading through all the grant applications with his peers, he convinced his entire class to completely throw out a grant for what he claimed “not following the directions�. The application used words he couldn’t understand the meaning to. But for my students and for this educator, there is a lot of meaning and reason being involved and assisting the WCF with their mission. This partnership awakened the children in my classroom to think of GIVING, not only as a duty but a privilege...and that is powerful. Youth in Philanthropy helps young people develop skills, knowledge, and confidence about volunteerism and civic engagement. What other program can do that for students? Children learn early that there are many great people like yourself that do wonderful things for others in a community. Children watch and they listen. The children are observing the things we adults do and care about...whether it be volunteering in the classroom or contributing to others. You know, we cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. And I am proud and confident that the WCF will continue changing the children in my classroom and in their world with a giving heart