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Recently, my children participated in a writing contest called Find Your Voice!, a letter writing contest run by their elementary school and Seymour Osman Community Center (SOCC). The objective was to find a social topic to research, then write a letter to someone in an authoritative position who would have some sort of experience or knowledge or influence regarding that chosen topic. Riley, my 7-year-old son, wrote to President Obama about saving the rainforests.

Riley was one of the top 3 finalists. (My daughter, Maddy, also won! I’ll write about her in another post.)

The award for winning was a $25.00 donation to a charity that supports his cause. Riley’s money will be donated to Kids Saving the Rainforests, a non-profit organization that was founded by kids.

I did not know about this organization before Riley had decided that he wanted to write to President Obama. In Riley’s online research, he had discovered the website and almost forgot to continue with writing his letter because he had become so absorbed in reading what other kids had to say about the rainforests. There is a lot of useful facts and information, plus neat photos and stories shared by kids. There is an online store, games, activities, and suggestions on ways anyone can help protect one of the world’s most amazing places.

Here is Riley’s letter:

President Obama,

My name is Riley, a first grader in New Hampshire. I am writing to you because I want to save the rainforests. I believe you can help me because you are the President of the United States.

The rainforests are important to me because I love all the animals who live there, especially the gorillas, bats, and snakes. I don’t want them to vanish from the earth. Trees give us oxygen. Did you know that if a tree lives 50 years, it exhales 10,000 pounds of oxygen in its life (about 120 pounds a year). Without trees, our planet is in trouble.

Will you please make people stop cutting down the rainforest. You could talk to all the loggers and farmers and settlers who are destroying the rainforest. You could show them pictures of the animals that live there. You could help them understand that we need the rainforest on our planet.

Thank you so much for reading my letter and thinking about how you can help make a difference. I’m depending on you. And so are the rainforest animals.

Best Regards, Riley