There are millions of children around the world who are doing their part to help others and inspiring us adults to do the same. William Lourcey, founder of Friends Reaching Our Goals (FROGs), is one of these young innovators. He is determined to feed those that are homeless or in poverty.
A few years ago William Lourcey of Fort Worth, Texas was returning home from a baseball game with his parents. At a red light he saw a homeless man on a street corner with a cardboard sign that read, “Need a Meal” in red ink. During the car ride home, William discussed with his parents ways in which he could help. He came up with the idea for an organization called FROGs. And William met with a friend of his father’s and member of a local food bank, Mary Kathryn Anderson, to learn how he could help the hungry in his community.
The number of people that live in poverty or have been left homeless has increased since our country recent economic struggles. Over 25 million people live in Texas of which 5.9 million live in poverty. The number of homelessness, especially among children, is also disheartening. There are over 1.5 million homeless children in the U.S. and over 100,000 live in Texas.
The FROGs motto is: “having fun while helping others” and that’s how it all began.
William first gathered a group of friends and volunteered at a local food bank, packing thousands of backpacks with food for at-risk kids. Since then FROGs has hosted informative events like “Game Over for Childhood Hunger” where children play games and wrote letters to local officials, encouraging them to help the hungry. There was also “Hits and Kicks Against Hunger” where youth sports teams got sponsors to pledge $1 for each hit/goal in order to feed the hungry.
Over the years, Lourcey’s events and fundraisers have raised over $20,000 for local food banks, providing over 75,000 meals to those in need. Local celebrities like TCU football coach, Gary Patterson, and Fort Worth mayor, Mike Moncrief have helped. The elementary student has been awarded the 2012 Hasbro Community Action Award, which recognizes outstanding young service leaders. William was a Build-A-Bear Huggable Hero in 2012. And he also was a guest blogger for the White House Winning the Future blog.
To learn more about William Lourcey or FROGs consider visiting this website.