Eighth-grader battles Asheville’s homelessness, seeks to inspire others

By Marc Liverman

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — An Asheville eighth-grader hopes some of the help she’s given to her community emboldens others to do the same.

“I’m really happy that I helped people. I just like giving to my community,” Juniper Finneron, an eighth-grade student at Francine Delany New School for Children, said.

Finneron said it started as a school project, an idea, with a simple message: help those who need it most. But it grew to be so much more. Finneron and her classmates were all given the same assignment: research a world problem and make it local.

“I found out that Asheville has the highest homelessness rate in the state of North Carolina,” Finneron said.

So, she decided to do something about it, putting up flyers around her school. She also placed an empty box for donations in front of every classroom.

Finneron went from class to class at Francine Delany. She said she connected with kids from kindergarten through eighth grade, hoping to help the homeless in Asheville.

Then, just before Thanksgiving, Finneron picked all those boxes back up and with a little help from her dad, she drove them all to AHOPE Day Center, a shelter in Asheville.

What Finneron got back was nothing but gratitude. She ended up gathering nearly $500 worth of supplies.

She’s sharing her story of giving with one goal in mind: to inspire others to give, too, in any way they can.

“I guess I hope that people take it as, ‘Oh, she did it. I can do that too.’”

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