The following was submitted to Patch by Dyanne Wark:

Nine-year-old Hannah Kennedy has demonstrated caring and compassion well beyond her years. Last year, as a second-grader at Evans Elementary, Hannah held a weekly “environmental club” for some of the girls in her neighborhood.  Some of the activities Hannah and her group carried out were a food drive for Open Door Pantry, planting seeds in the garden, cleaning up trash in the development, creating a play about endangered animals, researching problems in the environment and remarkably collecting more than 400 batteries from neighbors to be safely recycled at the Pottstown recycling center.

In addition, the girls enjoyed lots of playing out of doors, as opposed to sitting in front of a television or computer. But Hannah’s spirit of giving does not stop at the boundaries of her own neighborhood.

When Hannah learned about Malaria in Africa, she was extremely concerned and moved to discover that so many people (in many cases entire families) were losing their lives due to bites from infected mosquitos that she was once again moved to action. After carefully researching the ways to help, Hannah decided that she wanted to contribute to the Nothing but Nets foundation, an organization that is providing mosquito netting to families in Africa to prevent the spread of Malaria. This past summer she ran a lemonade stand in the neighborhood, did chores around the house and for her ninth birthday, she asked for donations to the organization instead of presents for herself.

When asked why this mission was so important to her, Hannah replied “It is very sad that many people are dying just because of a bug. I would hope that if this was happening to us in America that other people would help us.”

In addition to her humanitarian activities, Hannah is a  Brownie Girl Scout (in troop 71430), plays basketball for the Spring-Ford recreation league, plays softball, rides horses and  is a member of the Timbertalk Trotters 4-H group.

Hannah’s parents, Teresa & Matt Kennedy have every reason to be extremely proud of this young lady. Hannah and her siblings Emma, seven, and Matthew Jr., three, reside with their parents in Limerick. Hannah is a wonderful example of how we can all make the world a better place. If you would like help Hannah by making a donation to Nothing but Nets  you can go to Nothing but Nets.net – click on create/join a team and type in Hannah Kennedy.