Meet Greg Smith - CCF's Youth Ambassador

Christian Children's Fund
Tuesday, 1 May 2001

At the age of 11, CCF's Youth Ambassador, Gregory R. Smith has already dedicated his life to pursuing peace and speaking out for the needy children of the world. He's taking his message of peace and the needs of children to government leaders around the world, to community groups and to his favorite audiences, youth, themselves, who are challenged daily by the poverty and violence around them.

Gregory has met with such world leaders as Nobel Peace Laureate, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu; East Timor's Jose Ramos-Horta, former United States President, Bill Clinton, former Soviet Union President, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nobel Peace Laureate Ireland's Betty Williams.

Greg is a sophomore at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia majoring in Mathematics with a minor in French and History. He is the State of Florida's youngest public high school graduate and also the youngest student in the history of Randolph-Macon College. As of the spring semester, Greg has already completed 69 college credits.

As Youth Ambassador for the Christian Children's Fund and founder of the International Youth Advocates (IYA), Greg works with other youth who are concerned about the harsh realities of poverty, malnutrition, preventable diseases that voraciously kill children under the age of five, violence, war, illiteracy and the other miseries that plague youth.

Greg has organized clubs in schools and villages around the world. He has traveled into CCF-affiliated projects and met with those who daily face the challenges poverty poses in children's lives. He has addressed the United Nations Security Council, the State of Florida General Assembly , among others in his efforts to gain recognition on the needs of children and to give these children a voice heard around the world. To further make the voices of children heard, Gregory has also appeared on 60 Minutes, Oprah, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show and CNN.

Most recently, Greg was one of the key speakers at the US launch of the Say Yes for Children Campaign. This is a global campaign designed to focus the attention of the world's leaders on the needs of children prior to the UN Special Session in September.

Also, to find out more about CCF's new youth ambassador, visit Greg's website at http://www.gregoryrsmith.com.

For more information, or to contact Christian Children's Fund, see their website at: www.christianchildrensfund.org