State Service Project: Our Military Kids
The beneficiary of the 2023-2024 IAJHSC State Service Project is Our Military Kids®, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering extracurricular activity grants to children, ages 3-18, of deployed National Guard, deployed Reserve, or post-9/11 combat wounded, ill, or injured Veterans in treatment. OMK activity grants build the children’s self-confidence, enhance family wellness, and strengthen a shared sense of community.
Our Military Kids® began in 2004 as a meaningful way to give back to the National Guard and Reserve troops who were deployed in response to the 9/11 attacks. Initially a pilot project for children of the Virginia Army National Guard, the nonprofit quickly expanded to serve children throughout the United States.
Ongoing Service Project: Pop Tabs for Ronald McDonald House
For many years the IAJHSC has supported the Ronald McDonald Houses in Illinois by asking each school attending convention to bring one gallon of pap tabs per delegate so that the tabs can be recycled. The tabs are collected at the annual IAJHSC state convention, weighed, and taken to a recycling center to be exchanged for money. The money is then donated to the Ronald McDonald Houses.
Unfortunately, in the earlier years of the project, we did not keep any records of our donations. However, in more recent years, we have begun to keep those records. The list of our support for the Ronald McDonald Houses through the recycling of the pop tabs follows. The money donated always depends on the going rate for recycled aluminum at the time of the donation. The numbers are approximate.
A big THANK YOU goes to everyone for popping tabs! The mission of the Ronald McDonald Houses is to create, find, and support programs that directly help the well-being of children. Our donation each year helps them to achieve that very important mission.
© 2023 Illinois Association of Junior High Student Councils
ExecutiveDirector@iajhsc.org