SPRINGFIELD - For the past three years, Bob Crites has been planting seeds.

For each one that takes root, hope blossoms for a child living in staggering poverty in a Brazilian slum. More than 20 children are now reaping an education and a chance for a better life.

And students from all over Lane County are reaping something, too: the lesson that children in the world's richest nation can make a difference in the lives of children in the poorest nations.

Crites, a counselor at Springfield's Briggs Middle School, is the founder of Students Helping Street Kids International. Almost a dozen schools in Springfield and several in Eugene have joined the program.

Students hold fund-raisers to earn the $1,500 needed to cover tuition, fees, books, school uniforms, lunches and transportation for a poor Brazilian child to attend school, and perhaps to buy some food for the child's family.

Participants are asked to commit to making sure the child makes it through 11th grade, when Brazilian children graduate. The idea is that a basic education is the only hope a poor child has of escaping the crushing poverty in which millions of Brazilians live.
The roots of Crites' idea are spreading, with programs sprouting in several states as well as Europe and South America. All because of the seeds - a brochure here, a convention there, a casual conversation on an airplane - that Crites drops wherever he goes.

"As I plant these seeds and make these contacts, you never know what will show up," he said, his eyes shining behind dark-rimmed glasses. "Then I'll get an e-mail or something in my mailbox, and something good happens."

That morning, in fact, a small school in Brewster, N.Y., called and committed to joining the program, providing a partial scholarship to a child of the Brazilian shantytowns known as "flavelas." The next day, a high school in Long Island City, N.Y., joined, providing a full scholarship.

Crites founded Students Helping Street Kids International not only to help a handful of Brazil's poor but to help students in this country and other developed nations make a connection with another part of the world.

The program teaches young people how a large part of the world lives, he said, and might help them gain a better understanding of issues in a global economy.

"The whole thing is helping kids grow," Crites said. "It's really opening up their eyes to be aware of another world out there, a world they may never know. I think this brings it alive to them. I think it gets them on a course of growing awareness of what their role is."

It seems to be working. Children who might otherwise be far more interested in Pokemon than poverty are learning what it means to be truly poor. At the same time, they're learning to better appreciate what they have.

Hannah Whitsel and Cam Sinyard, a pair of sixth-graders at Briggs, speak as eloquently as people twice their age about the plight of the poor and why others should help when they can.

Cam said that seeing pictures of the shacks and shantytowns where the two children sponsored by Briggs students live has made her think.

"That just changed my life because now I know it's not just about us, it's about other people, too," she said. And it's not just about people half a world away. She said the program has changed how she thinks about homeless people in Eugene.

"I think about them now more than I did before," she said. "I used to think they were just dirty. But now I know they're people, too, and they need help as much as anybody else."
Hannah said helping two children get just a few of the things she has is helping her see both her country and other countries differently.

"You find out that people in other countries live under such harsh conditions. They can't even find their basic needs, while we have so much," she said. "It makes you want to go out and do something about it because you see how bad their life is."

Cam said the program has inspired her to reach out to the less fortunate people of the world. Both girls are active in the program. They were the top fund-raisers in their class for the school's recent Fiesta Night, which raised $2,300 for Briggs' Brazilian students as well as some local charities.

Mike Riplinger, principal at Briggs, said even children from low-income families have been inspired. Often, the students who have the least get the most joy from helping others, he said, recalling one boy who helped raise $40 selling coffee at school.

"He was just sky high that he was able to help someone else," Riplinger said.
Crites, an energetic former Peace Corps volunteer, spends about 30 hours a week on program business, following up on contacts, sending out materials, recruiting new schools. He's especially proud of one of his most recent converts, renowned chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall.

Goodall, whom Crites met while staffing a Students Helping Street Kids booth at a Lions Club youth summit, persuaded him to expand the program to the African nation of Tanzania, where she does her research. They've now made arrangements for a scholarship at a boarding school in Dar es Salaam, and they're looking for the first two students
Goodall is the second woman of international stature to embrace the program. The first was Yvonne de Mello, a Brazilian socialite whose work with the poor of Rio de Janeiro inspired Crites to start his program in 1997.

"What two incredible women we've had the good fortune to cross paths with and get involved in our program," he said.

And the work goes on. Crites wants to get Students Helping Street Kids certified as a student exchange program with the hope that one day, each of the Brazilian students will spend a year attending high school in the district that sponsored them.

He's also convinced that when the youngsters involved in the program grow up, they'll want to go to Brazil to meet those they helped. Already, Hannah and Cam said they'd like to meet Elizabeth, sponsored by Briggs, and Max, co-sponsored by Briggs and Churchill High School.

"I would like to ask them what kind of things they think about," Hannah said. "I think if you can develop a relationship like that, you can reach out even more than what money can do."

That's music to Crites' ears.

He said the program isn't just about donations, it's about learning and building relationships.

"I don't want them to just send money. I want there to be an exchange of ideas," he said. "I want them to communicate with that student. This sets the stage for all sorts of things."
Crites knows that not all the seeds he's planting will bear fruit. Not every youngster will connect with the program.

But he hopes those who are inspired will scatter more seeds.

"You're going to reach a certain percentage, and those are going to have a lifelong passion for helping others, for other countries, for being a world citizen," he said. "We've got people all over this country interested in our program. It's moving slowly, but it's moving. It's definitely moving."

STUDENTS HELPING STREET KIDS INTERNATIONAL

What: A program that gives youngsters a chance to learn about another country and other people by raising money to help poor children in Brazil attend school.

How to help: Contribute at fund-raisers at schools that sponsor a child. The program also needs volunteers who can help with bookkeeping, writing grants and staying in touch with interested schools. Donations are tax-deductible.

Who to contact: Bob Crites; by e-mail at bcrites@helpthekids.org; or visit the Web site, www.helpthekids.org. The toll-free number is (877) 543-7697.