H.E.R.O. for children opens doors on campus

A growing organization in Georgia that helps those affected by HIV and AIDS has made its way to Tech.

Hearts Everywhere Reaching Out for children or H.E.R.O. is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in Georgia affected by HIV or AIDS. Two UGA Honors Business graduates, Ryan Gembala and Garrett Gravesen, started the organization in 2003.

Tech students who attended Mock Rock during Homecoming week may remember H.E.R.O.’s attendance and the children that danced on stage.

The Tech chapter of H.E.R.O. held a meeting on Jan. 19 for students interested in getting involved. Speaking at the meeting, along with Gembala and Gravesen, were the co-directors of the Tech chapter of H.E.R.O., Elicia Skelton, a second-year Biochemistry major, and Jon Bonus, a 2004 Tech alumnus.

At the meeting, Gravesen and Gembala presented to students the organization’s history, past activities and events and the importance and need for H.E.R.O. in Georgia.

Skelton and Bonus explained how the Tech chapter would be set up and how students could get involved now.

Student organizations and Greek organizations have the opportunity to get involved with H.E.R.O. by having their members sign up to raise fifty dollars. Organizations will compete to have the most people sign up to pledge the money. The organization with the most people signed up by Feb. 17 will be honored on the day of the Georgia Tech vs. Duke basketball game on Feb. 22.

Students who pledge do not have to raise the money immediately. Everyone will have until the end of fall semester 2006 to raise the fifty dollars that they have pledged.

Skelton and Bonus will contact organizations through email with fundraising ideas and information concerning future events.

“[Tech has a] student body that helps out these other great causes. I hope we get H.E.R.O. up there. We want to have a total campus effort,” Bonus said.

“I just want people to feel passionate about it and get their friends [to join] and help it grow,” Skelton said.

H.E.R.O. plans to hold events on campus for Tech students to partake in with the H.E.R.O. children.

One event was a fall festival at Tech’s Yellow Jacket Park last October where H.E.R.O. children and volunteers participated in various activities, including inflatable playgrounds, a rock climbing wall and painting pumpkins.

“The best part is you can see where the money goes. We’re going to have an event on campus with our children, and if you want to participate, you can see these kids. A whole group of kids come to Georgia Tech, and we do an event here with the kids for people to participate,” Gravesen said.

During the meeting, Gravesen and Gembala brought out a special guest, a little boy in the H.E.R.O. program. He told the audience that through H.E.R.O., he has had the opportunity to go to the zoo with Miss Universe and meet Chris Tucker at a Hawks game. His favorite H.E.R.O. activities were playing on inflatable playgrounds, skating and “going places with Garrett and Ryan.”

Gravesen and Gembala founded H.E.R.O. in 2003 after coming home from separate but similar experiences abroad, volunteering in orphanages for children infected with HIV and AIDS in Africa and Brazil.

“It made me realize that AIDS can take everything away from a child, including any chance they have to enjoy what all kids should and that’s a childhood,” Gembala said.

After coming back to Georgia, they both saw that there were children in their own home state that were suffering from the same disease as the children they saw abroad.

“You hear a lot about Africa, but it’s right here in our own home,” Gravesen said.

Although there were over 500 AIDS organizations in Georgia, only 12, two and half percent of the total organizations provided any kind of attention to children.

Together, Gravesen and Gembola created H.E.R.O. with the purpose of enriching these children’s lives by providing opportunities for fun and growth and a chance at a childhood with large, all-day festivals and chances to meet celebrities and athletes.

H.E.R.O. has an established chapter at UGA and a mentoring program in Atlanta. They have had tremendous support from politicians, businesses, celebrities, athletes, volunteers and students.

Gembala and Gravesen are very excited to expand H.E.R.O. to Tech.

“Tech is in the heart of Atlanta, and it’s where our kids [affected by HIV and AIDS] live,” Gravesen said.

Paul Hewitt, coach of the Tech men’s basketball team, has signed on to be on the board of directors for H.E.R.O.

“Coach Hewitt is such an amazing man, and he’s let his heart reach out to help these kids. He’s said, ‘Anything I can do to help, let me know,’ and we’re excited to have him involved with the events we [will] have on campus....He’s a really great man, we’re happy to have his support,” Gembala said.

Hewitt also expressed his enthusiasm to be a part of the organization.

“I was impressed by the work the two young men are doing. I’ve always said that sports gives us a platform to make our communities better. It’s not about wins and losses, but making our community better. If my involvement in this can make for some happy moments for these young kids, then the decision to be involved is easy,” Hewitt said.

Students who attended the meeting were eager to get involved.

“I actually just heard about H.E.R.O. around campus, and coming to the meeting tonight, [Gembala and Gravesen] presented a really good presentation about it. It’s a really good group. It’s something I really think ADPi would really want to get in touch with and one of the kids was just really touching,” said Sammar Rajjoub, Philanthropy chair of the sorority ADPi.

Kim Roush, a first-year Biomedical Engineering major, heard about H.E.R.O. when she received an email to volunteer at the fall festival in October.

“I got this little seven-year-old girl, the most adorable kid I’ve ever seen in my life, and her little brother was there, too....We got to do all these really fun games with them. I still have my pumpkin [that we painted] in my room, and it was just a lot of fun. So when I heard that we were actually starting it here at Tech...I wanted to get more involved with it and be able to meet some more really cool kids like the ones I met last fall.”

Gravesen said that H.E.R.O. is aiming to get college students and young professionals involved.

He hopes that they will be able to create a “youth movement” across the state and expand what had originally started in Athens, Ga.

Gembala and Garrett said they often get asked why they chose to start their lives with philanthropy, something that people normally think about doing at the end of their careers.

“Jobs can wait, but the lives of these kids cannot. And because no one else was doing anything else about it,” Gravesen said.

Students who want to get involved can sign up on H.E.R.O.’s website www.heroforchildren.org or contact Elicia Skelton at gtg278y@mail.gatech.edu or Jon Bonus at jon@bonusrecords.com.