06-01-14 Olivia & Carter Ries-One More Generation (OMG) was founded by two elementary students here in Fayetteville, GA. The founders are Carter (now 13) and his Sister Olivia (now 11.5), who are both extremely passionate about animals and conservation. They have been adopting Cheetahs in South Africa over the past few years and when they heard that Cheetahs, along with so many other species were close to extinction; they knew they had to act.
Olivia and Carter started their own nonprofit in an effort to help educate kids and adults about the plight of endangered species so they can save them for at least One More Generation… and beyond. One More Generation (OMG) was formed in late 2009 and officially filed with the state of GA as a nonprofit in January of 2010. OMG was granted their 501(c)(3) status by the IRS in May of 2010.
Shortly after starting their organization the Gulf oil spill happened (April 2010). Olivia and her brother came home from school and watched with their parents the first images of seabirds and sea turtles being pulled out of the Gulf caked in oil. Olivia immediately started to cry and she looked at her parents and asked, “What are we going to do about this problem?”
So they picked up the phone and contacted the four largest agencies involved with the animal rescue efforts. Each of the agencies gave them a list of badly needed animal rescue supplies. The two kids spent the next four months going from church to church, and from school to school giving presentations and asking for help collecting the supplies.
Then in late August of that year (on Olivia’s eighth birthday) the two kids headed to the Gulf to deliver the supplies. They spent 5-daysin the region and worked with the Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Rescue Center who gladly accepted the collected supplies. The center had 146 sea turtles, several sharks and even a dolphin, all of which needed their care. The kids had a blast working at the center and meeting all the dedicated staff and volunteers who worked so hard to save these animals.
In Feb of 2011, on Carter’s 10th birthday, we launched our Plastic Awareness Coalition and we set out to get like minded local organizations to sign on with us so we would have enough clout to request meetings with local officials without being looked at as a mere kids group. Then, realizing that the wheels of change within the political arena turned slow, Carter and Olivia asked if we could somehow reach out to kids to share with them all that we had learned. After all, if we all care so much after learning about the problem, surely their peers would do the same. http://onemoregeneration.org
