Ten-year-old encourages youth – and adults – into volunteerism

Annan Hildebrand has been concerned about the homeless for half his life - which is quite an achievement considering he’s only ten-years-old.

“When I was little, about five or so, I was always scared that we would become homeless and lose our home,” says Annan.

According to mom Dior, his fears weren’t ungrounded. As a single mom, it was a challenge for the two of them to get by. “Obviously, you don’t communicate that to your kids, but they know.”

Circumstances for the family improved, but Annan’s concern took on a new direction – worrying about other homeless people instead of himself. Then came that fateful car ride when he was eight.

“I was driving with my mom and I saw a homeless person and I asked my mom, ‘Why don’t people stop minding their own business?’”

From that one sentence has sparked a fledgling movement to empower youth to get involved in issues they feel passionate about.

Now at the grand old age of ten, Annan is student president at West Heritage Elementary School in Fontana and looking for every opportunity he can to spread the word and lead by example. He’s already organized a food drive and is doing the same with toys now the holiday season is here.

“I don’t want to tell people what to do or what to care about,” says Annan, “I just want to tell them to do something.”

For Annan, United Way’s HomeWalk was a great opportunity to do exactly that. He recruited eight people for his Stop Minding Your Own Business team and raised $170 from family and friends.

The next step is designing and building a website with his father where youth can blog about the issues they care about and find ways to address them.

The website is still under construction, but once it’s up and running, the family hopes to include a section on Ask the Expert where kids can post questions that will be answered in a child-friendly way by knowledgeable volunteers and another area where users can learn about volunteer opportunities and post their own.

Dior takes no credit for her son’s passion. “He’s always been an old soul. For his sixth birthday instead of buying presents, he wanted people to donate to a dog walk he was doing,” says Dior. “My job is just to stand out of the way and let him see his vision come to fruition.”

Thank you, Annan. You’re an inspiration to us all.

If you are interested in finding out more about Stop Minding Your Own Business or how you can help, please e-mail diorhildebrand@hotmail.com.