Simone Puccinelli went to Africa for three weeks while in high school, visiting area schools and lending whatever support and assistance she could.
A few years later, while a sophomore in college, Puccinelli received an email about a struggling school for orphans in Africa. The school was going to have to close unless it could find financial support.
The school needed $500, which would cover the rent.
"I read that email and just thought that I had to do something to help these kids, so they wouldn't go back out on the streets and not receive an education. That was the starting point," Puccinelli said by phone from her home in Cartersville, Ga.
Puccinelli soon formed her own non-profit charity—Simone's Kids, whose mission is to save children from the effects of poverty—and the needed funds were raised, and much more.
"In about six weeks, we had raised the [$500] and then it just snowballed into an entire organization from there," Puccinelli said.
Simone's Kids raised about $5,000 in 2010 alone—and has built two classrooms and laid the foundation for eight more classrooms, plus office space for administrators.
"It's really emotional work at times, working with the kids, some with HIV/AIDS, and/or other major illnesses. Emotionally, it's taken a toll, but also is very rewarding," said Puccinelli, who is married to Michael, who she met while in college. "I feel good, successful in what we've done, what we've accomplished, especially [generating] more funds every year. I'm happy where the organization is at."
Puccinelli works hand in hand with the husband-wife duo Godfrey and Hope Kayiire, the administrators of God's Hope Primary School, started by the couple to help the poor and orphaned children in their community of Uganda.
In 2011, Simone's Kids purchased three acres of land to build a new school, and a year later, Simone's Kids broke ground on their first building project.
Last December at the third annual Classroom for Christmas fundraiser, more than $20,000 was raised to continue the building the school in Uganda.
Puccinelli has worked with about 400 youngsters in Uganda over the past few years, and she estimated that about 25 percent of them are infected with HIV/AIDS.
"They're normal kids who just like to have fun, like all other kids. I don't think a lot of them really even know what's wrong with them," she said. "[HIV/AIDS] is very hush-hush over there. It's sad."
Puccinelli befriended Henry late fall during one of her regular visits to Uganda, hooked by his sweet spirit and a gentle heart, she said. His bright smile and bubbly personality overshadowed his HIV-positive status. Henry died in March from AIDS.
"After learning of his passing I was overcome with a feeling that I have never felt before," Puccinelli wrote on her blog. "It seems unjustified for a six year old child to die of AIDS, a disease that was passed on to him as baby. He had done nothing wrong, but he was gone."
For more information on Simone's Kids, go to simoneskids.com .
