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Jillian Froelick embraces the concept of giving back, and that simple acts of human kindness can transform the world.
Jillian started “Give a Supply to Help Them Reach the Sky,” a book and school-supply drive in May. After next year, her senior year at N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, she plans to take a year off to spend seven months in Tanzania.
She wants to teach English and art to underprivileged children for the first three months, work at an AIDS orphanage for three months, and travel the last month.
But now she's focused on the supply drive.
“I wanted to really let people know any small donation would help these kids' dreams come true,” Jillian said last week. “One extra set of pencils or notebook paper is one month of learning for that kid when it's $3 for you.”
Jillian, 17, contacted the NCSSM chancellor in Durham for permission to put fliers around the school and forward e-mails to all students about her project. In the two-week drive on campus, she collected 373 books and three boxes of school supplies.
Although she attended high school in Durham, Jillian didn't forget her hometown of Weddington. Weddington High School had a book drive in the spring and donated about 400 books.
Jillian organized and planned her trip to Arusha, Tanzania, with Projects Abroad, a volunteer organization she felt safe with. Although her parents, Marty and Diane Froelick, offered to pay for half the trip, Jillian wanted to raise the money through friends and family and getting a part-time job.
“If you learn anything about me, I believe anything is possible,” said Jillian, who e-mails Oprah Winfrey every Friday about her drive.
Marty Froelick believes his daughter's trip to Tanzania is part of a large plan Jillian has for life.
“My honest reaction when she first told me was, ‘be very cool and calm and collected,' (hoping she would come around, and make the trip after college) if I give her time to think about it, I'll buy myself four years,” Marty said. “I'm supportive of it. I have my moments of anxiety but I'm really excited for her. She's going to handle it very well.”
Jillian says she fell in love with volunteering because her parents always emphasized the importance of giving back to the less fortunate.
“My parents are the most loving and genuine people I know,” she said in an e-mail. “They're to thank for all the work I'm doing.”
“Jillian has talked about going to Africa for a number of years,” said Diane. “She looked into all this by herself, she has done all the legwork and gathered all the information. She has really thought this out really well. I was a little concerned as a parent, but also just very proud. She has just a kind, loving spirit about her. You rarely see Jillian without a smile on her face.”
“As a parent, it's awfully scary thinking your daughter is going there,” Marty said. “She's still my little girl. I still see there's a child in her …when she's at home she's just a regular kid.”
Jillian plans to organize a drive at UNC Chapel Hill, and at l shops and bookstores in the Durham area. Her goal is to send supplies to schools she will work with and other schools in Africa that Projects Abroad supports. She hopes to establish “Give a Supply to Help Them Reach the Sky” as a well-known drive and plans to contact Fed-Ex or UPS with the possibility of donating the shipping costs.
“Take a moment when you wake up and see how lucky you are,” Jillian said. “The greatest feeling in the world is giving joy to someone else.”
Next year, Jillian will apply to UNC, Duke University, University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech and Brown University. She wants to become a surgeon and eventually start a clinic in Tanzania.
This summer she will be shadowing a doctor at the Presbyterian Hospital Matthews and working as a camp counselor at the NCSSM Labs for Learning summer program in Durham.
