AMERICAN MORNING

Young Heroes

Aired May 26, 2003 - 08:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we're going to meet some young people who prove that age is no barrier when it comes to making a difference.
Earlier this month in Washington, 10 middle and high school students from across the country were named this year's Top 10 Youth Volunteers. Their stellar service earned them Prudential's Spirit of Community awards.

Three of them are with us this morning. We have 18-year-old Gideon Sofer.

Hello -- Gideon.

GIDEON SOFER, TOP 10 VOLUNTEER: Hi.

COLLINS: Fourteen -- you guys can wave if you want.

Fourteen-year-old Sasha Bowers and 10-year-old Jacob Komar.

Thanks so much for being here, guys, so proud of you. I bet your parents are thrilled as well.

But, Sasha, I want to start with you. I know that you used some of your own experience from growing up and being homeless to go ahead and create these summer long programs for other kids who are also homeless. Tell us about your program.

SASHA BOWERS, TOP 10 VOLUNTEER: My program was a summer long project for homeless kids. We did 250 out of Franklin Park in Columbus, Ohio, and it's a big park. And like I went there and it wasn't -- I had been there before when I was in a shelter and it wasn't very like interesting for kids to go and play.

COLLINS: So what did you do?

BOWERS: So we got together our Youth Empowerment Program and we talked about things we could get for the kids to do. And then we just like over the summer brought a whole bunch of kids to there. And then at the end of the summer program, we do a big get-together and we cook and we had books. We took them fishing. We face painted, we talked with them.
COLLINS: How'd you make you feel inside to see these kids having so much fun?

BOWERS: That made me feel real good, because you know I wanted to make a difference for the little kids, or just any kids, that didn't have the opportunity.

COLLINS: And I'm willing to bet that you did. Good work on your part, Sasha.

And, Gideon, I know that you just got out of the hospital. You have been fighting Crohn's Disease for a very long time. In fact, your project has to do with Crohn's Disease and trying to raise awareness about it, is that right?

SOFER: That's right. Crohn's is a chronic intestinal condition, along with colitis, and I have had symptoms since birth. And I -- in fact I was -- I was actually on the operating table a week ago, so I'm just really thankful to be here in the studio today.

COLLINS: I am too.

SOFER: I started a stamp campaign to try and urge the United States Postal Service to issue an awareness stamp for Crohn's. Over the last few years, the Postal Service has issued stamps for breast cancer and diabetes. And I found that there are a million people in the United States, over four million worldwide, who have Crohn's and colitis, yet the amount of awareness isn't sufficient for the drugs that are on the market.

So it was really kind of a personal commitment of mine, because I really felt grateful just to have the health that I did. You know when you go into the hospital and you see what's around there, you realize that you know things could always be a lot worse than what they're set out to be for yourself.

So I actually started a stamp campaign and collected signatures from citizens throughout the United States. And in a couple of months there's going to be congressional legislation introduced to urge the Postal Service to issue that awareness stamp sometime soon.

COLLINS: Wow that's very exciting.

SOFER: So...

COLLINS: Excellent. Gideon, how are you feeling today?

SOFER: I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. I was, you know, just discharged 24 hours ago, but I'm doing just fine. And like I said, I'm just really happy to be here this morning.

COLLINS: Again, so are we.

And, Jacob, I want to move on to you. Apparently you're like the computer guru man, right? You went and found 60 computers that were going to be thrown away. You went and restored them and then you installed them in people's homes who otherwise couldn't have afforded them, right? What made you want to do this?
JACOB KOMAR, TOP 10 VOLUNTEER: Well I started a program called Computers for Communities. And I was at my sister's school and I found out that they were throwing out all these computers that they -- because they had gotten new ones. And I said well I know kids that don't have computers, and computers are great learning tools. So I figured why not take these computers and let these kids have them. You know refurbish them, get software licensing and let these kids have them. And...

COLLINS: I'm sorry, are you like 35 years old or is it just me? So you got them all fixed up,...

KOMAR: Yes.

COLLINS: ... made them new and then what was the reaction from the people when you brought them to their homes?

KOMAR: They -- the best part about it was the smile on their face. And you know it's like -- it was like Santa Claus walked through their door, you know. And I thought it was also great because I was doing community service. President Bush has asked everybody to do two years or 4,000 hours of community service. So any -- at any age you can do any community service whatsoever, you know.

COLLINS: I'm really proud of all three of you guys. Real quickly, I'd like to hear from you about what is the very best thing about volunteering -- Sasha.

BOWERS: The very best thing about volunteering is that you get to do something really good for your community and to make people feel good about themselves and to stand up for what they have to speak about.

SOFER: I think the best thing about volunteering is that you know there are just no limits. You can make a difference in as many lives as you want and you know set no boundaries so that you can just continue to better the world for everyone.

COLLINS: Good for you -- Jacob.

KOMAR: The best part about community service would have to be making the other person happy and just make them feel good about themselves no matter what situation they're in.

COLLINS: Very good job. I want to make sure, too, that we go ahead and get Gideon's Web site out here. It's called IBDCURE.org. IBDCURE.org and you can find out more about Crohn's Disease there.

Also, we want to let our viewers know that if you would like to nominate a youth volunteer for next year's Prudential Spirit Awards you can call that phone number on your screen, 1-888-450-9961. There is also a Web site there, www.prudential.com/community/spirit.

Good luck to all of you.

SOFER: Thank you.

BOWERS: Thank you.

COLLINS: And thanks so much for being here this morning, make us all feel so good.

SOFER: Thanks for having us.

COLLINS: All right, Leon, back over to you.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's official, I will never complain about anything else again.

COLLINS: Yes.

HARRIS: If Gideon can have -- had -- what, be on the operating table a week ago and then make it into the studio today, we've got nothing to complain about here, that's for sure. Way to go, guys.

COLLINS: Right.

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