Children International teen leaders hold clean, green campaigns that land

                   them at the 5th Annual Youth Assembly.



    NEW YORK, Aug. 11 /EMWNews/ -- Going clean and green means more to

Rocio Garcia, a 19-year-old girl from the Dominican Republic supported by

Children International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization.



    



    River clean-up and tree-planting campaigns have propelled the teen from

a slum outside Santo Domingo to the United States to attend International

Youth Day on August 12 at the United Nations. She has led her local youth

program to restore the river quality and tree population that was stripped

during rapid development in her city. As a result, Rocio will attend the

5th Annual Youth Assembly, which is a gathering of hundreds of youth

seeking ways to accomplish the United Nations Millennium Development Goals,

one of which is to ensure environmental sustainability.



    Rocio lives in a poor area in Santo Domingo and knows the plight of

crushing poverty. Her father is deceased, and her mother works as a maid to

earn $100 a month to support her family. A trip to New York is a dream come

true for Rocio since she has never left her home, much less traveled on an

airplane.



    "I never would have dreamed of this for myself. My dream has always

been to support myself and my family when I leave school. This opportunity

to join other sponsored youth in the United States is more than I have ever

thought of doing," said Rocio.



    Three other teens from Children International will join Rocio at the

International Youth Day celebration -- Jiyaul Piyada from India, Lara

Villanueva from the Philippines, and Charday from the United States. They

will join 700 other young adults attending the Youth Assembly and will lead

a workshop to discuss their environmental projects.



    Jim Cook, Children International President and CEO said, "I am so proud

of Rocio and all our youth. They have risen from the depths of incredible

poverty to become leaders in their own communities."



    To learn more about the sponsored teens attending the 5th Annual Youth

Assembly, visit International Youth Day 2008.



    To learn more about Children International's Youth Empowerment Funds,

visit Youth Program.



    To learn more about sponsoring a child, visit http://www.children.org.

    About Children International:



    Established in 1936, Children International is a nonprofit organization

with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Children International's

programs benefit over 300,000 poor children and their families in 11

countries around the world, including Chile, Colombia, the Dominican

Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, the Philippines,

Zambia and the United States. To sponsor a child living in poverty, visit

http://www.children.org today.






     FOR MORE INFORMATION:

     Dolores Quinn Kitchin

     Public Relations

     Children International

     To page: (816) 942-2000

     Cell:  (816) 718-0711