As the adage goes, morning shows the day, development of the behavior and character of young kids is as necessary as their need for education. After all, they are the future of not only the nation but also of the whole globalized society. The way they are made today, the future of the nation should replicate accordingly.

Now Students have a unique and noble opportunity at Maple Lawn Elementary in Sumner. Their school now has EarlyAct, a branch of Rotary Service Club and their school is the only to have this club in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District.

Summer EarlyAct founder Kathy Hayden said that the club was for fourth and fifth graders and the motive behind the club is only to sensitize kids of the importance of service early in their life.

The club conducts one local project and one international project every year. It has 56 students now. Last year, the club organized a food and supply drive for people experiencing homelessness in the area. Maple Lawn third-grade teacher Jeanne Ossman said that children in her school were anxious to serve and the whole drive was student driven.

Students had organized boxes of food and clothing in the last month of 2018, and when asked about the whole thing one-fifth grader said that he liked the whole concept and he loved serving the needy people.

By November the EarlyAct had collected many things,

• $1,600 for four freshwater pumps and immunizations in 2018
• 1,400 food and hygiene items needed for the Sumner Community Food Bank
• 4,000 diapers for a diaper drive
• 750 toys for Christmas Toy Drive
• $2,100 for water purifiers to be sent to Haiti

Sumner Rotary President Brad Moericke said that the club now has 100 members and it supports the local communities as well as the international ones.

But, the international members of the Rotary Club have seen a decline in numbers. There were 1,209,491 members in the 2014-15 annual report; 1,207,913 members in the 2015-16 and 1,202,937 members in Rotary’s 2016-17 annual report.

The EarlyAct club has much importance to the number of members of Rotary Club. As the organizers said that if they had no young members in their club, the club would soon die out, it was the young members who would run the club in the future.

There is another club in the name of Interact Club in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District. This club is for the teens of 12 to 18. This club has been in the place for the last six years.

As per the Rotary members, it was difficult to start the Interact Club in the middle school as students there were unaware of Rotary, but after six years of operation, they had seen a great change.

The motive behind the EarlyAct club is only to make the kids aware that they have the power to make the change. To bring a change all that is required is a commitment, irrespective of the age.

A lot of members of the EarlyAct club now want to join the Interactive Club once they are the sixth grader and eventually to join Rotary Club in the future.

As per the records, there is one EarlyAct and three Interact Clubs in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District. Interact Clubs are now existing at Sumner High School, Sumner Middle School, and the Elhi Hill High School Alternative Education Program. Every club meets at least twice a month.

The Rotary Club now wants to grow, and they need more kids to participate. And we hope they get their numbers.

It is indeed a noble task to involve the kids at such an early age to help people in need. With this kind of teachings, we should expect a better place run by these kids in the future.