If you haven’t heard 9-year-old Noah Henderson of San Clemente playing ukulele and singing “Please Help the YMCA,” visit YouTube.com and type in “Noah’s YMCA Song.”
On March 23, the Concordia Elementary School third-grader was presented with an award from the Beach Cities YMCA for raising $200 for scholarships so less-fortunate students can attend YMCA after-school programs.
It was the most money raised by a single student in the YMCA’s Beach Cities area, which includes 13 recreation sites in San Clemente, San Juan and Dana Point.
Noah’s mother, Holly Henderson, said that she decided to use his fund drive to teach him a little about the power of social media.
“He wrote and played the song on his uke and I posted it on Facebook,” she said via e-mail. “Soon, envelopes began arriving in the mail from distant friends and relatives of Noah’s. He received mail from Costa Mesa to the Bay area and as far away as Arkansas. It was a great lesson to him about the reach of the Internet and in a positive way.”
For local distribution, Noah made hand-inscribed donation packets and took them around town. “He did his own art for the covers of the packets and printed over 30 and went out into the community looking for donations,” his mother said.
Angie Carnevale, the YMCA’s site director at Concordia Elementary, said the annual fundraiser encourages kids to go out into the community and share their YMCA story. “If they even bring back $20, $5, it’s a huge help,” she said.
About two dozen students brought back $50 each, said Carnevale, who has been with YMCA for nine years. Noah’s $200 was exceptional, she said.
“That was a first,” she said. “I was proud of him for doing that on his own.”
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
