Fifteen-year old Dylan Brooks doesn’t know how to dance — yet — but he’s game to learn, particularly if it gives him a chance to participate in an upcoming production of “Dancing with the Athens Stars,” all while raising money and awareness for a worthy cause. The event, a fund-raiser for Project Safe, will take place next March 1 at the Classic Center in downtown Athens.
Dylan, who is a junior at Madison County High School this year, is already an active teen in his school and community and is no stranger to being in front of crowds. His experiences as an active 4-Her since the fifth grade have helped him learn the importance of leadership and helping others.
His 4-H coordinator, Susan Goldman, and friend Kat Gilmore nominated Dylan recently for the “People’s Choice” slot for the 2009 “Dancing with the Athens Stars” competition. This is the signature fund-raising event for Project Safe, a shelter that serves victims of domestic violence. The shelter hopes to expand its services to Madison County this fall, according to Project Safe executive director Joan Prittie.
Dylan is one of 12 finalists (from more than 40 nominees) who have a chance to fill the “People’s Choice” slot in the upcoming event.
A press release from Project Safe states “Perhaps the most surprising finalist is 15-year-old Dylan Brooks, a high-school student from Madison County — surprising, that is, until you read his co-nominators Kat Gilmore and Susan Goldman’s long synopsis of Dylan’s accomplishments. He’s delivered Meals on Wheels and has volunteered for four years alongside Master Gardeners in the county to install and maintain a therapeutic garden at the Ty Cobb Health Care Center in Comer. And when his family’s trailer was destroyed by a tornado in 2004, he turned that tragedy into a mission, working with three other 4-H members to design a survival kit that won the top prize in a national 4-H competition. And that’s just a partial list of his accomplishments and service to others!”
“Everything ‘Dylan Does’ he does with all his might. In fact, ‘Dylan Does’ is his 4-H mantra,” Goldman and Gilmore wrote in their nomination letter. “Even though his participation in the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension 4-H program (a member since 2001) encourages community service, Dylan really is one of those amazing and rare individuals who thrives on his community projects and who is always thinking of ways to turn his experiences into a project aimed at helping others.”
The People’s Choice finalist will be chosen by monetary votes – one dollar donated to Project Safe in Dylan’s name equals one vote, and folks may vote as many times as they want.
Dylan and his mom, Jane Brooks, have placed collection jars at various spots around the county to collect “votes” for the competition and voting also takes place on-line at www.project-safe.org through Aug. 31. If Dylan wins, he’ll dance alongside 11 other contestants. whose identities will remain top secret until the “big reveal” at Project Safe’s family protection center.
“It’s all about diversity,” Mrs. Brooks said. “They (Project Safe) want to know where the money comes from and see that it comes from lots of different people in the community.” In other words, they’re interested in seeing many donations from all over the community instead of just from one large donation.
The 2008 contest raised $32,000 to support the center’s crisis line, safe shelter, transitional housing and other programs for battered women and their children, according to Project Safe officials.
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In addition to the accomplishments listed in the press release, Dylan also serves as co-chairman of the Heritage Seekers, a 4-H group working with the Heritage Foundation to document oral histories of county residents.
As for the future, Dylan says he plans to continue helping others by attending medical school to become an emergency room doctor.
As part of that goal, this year he is enrolled as one of only 15 students taking part in a new certified nursing assistant course offered in conjunction with Athens Technical College.
If Dylan wins the finalist spot for the competition, he’ll add 50 hours of dancing lessons with a professional instructor to his busy schedule.
And since Dylan is not yet old enough to drive, his mom says she’ll rely on the help of friends to get Dylan to some of those dance lessons in Athens.
“This is a community activity to help him get votes and it’ll be a community event to help him get to practice,” Mrs. Brooks said, laughing.
For more information on the services provided by Project Safe, or Dancing with the Athens Stars, go to www.project-safe.org
