Olivia Ries

Olivia and I have been adopting Cheetahs in South Africa for years now. Last year we received a letter telling us the adoption would cost more money because fewer people were donating. My sister ran up to her room and got her piggy-bank, determined to make sure her Cheetah would have enough to eat.

Our parents tried to explain to us that unless we helped endangered species, our children might never see one in the wild. Olivia cried and demanded our parents help us do something to save them. That was the beginning of our organization. From there our parents told us we needed to do research about endangered animals. As we did, our parents said they kept hearing us say OMG (Oh My Gosh) every-time we learned of another animal that was about to be extinct. Our Mom said we needed to come up with a company name which somehow used the same OMG letters. After a few days, we came up with our company name One More Generation (OMG) because that is what we are trying to do, save all endangered species for at least One More Generation... and beyond.

Since starting OMG, we have been extremely busy. We regularly host events at our local zoo (Zoo Atlanta), at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta and starting in September, we will be hosting events for the Georgia Aquarium as well. My sister never seems to get tired. Every day she sits down with me and our parents and asks what we can work on next. Last weekend we held our first fundraiser which was a community Art Class at a local art gallery where everyone could come and paint pictures of their favorite endangered species. We even got Jungle Jack Hanna to donate some of his signed books and a hat, which we will use as part of our silent auction. We also got famed local artist Dylan Scott Pierce to donate some of his incredible watercolor paintings of animals.

We have also been working with several Animal Rescue agencies in the Gulf in an effort to collect some of the badly needed supplies. We are driving down to New Orleans on Monday Aug 30th (which happens to be Olivia's 8th birthday ;-) to get ready to deliver the supplies we collected. A German TV film crew will be accompanying us and doing a story on the Gulf oil spill and how it has moved kids to action. We are so excited.

There is no doubt in my mind that OMG will be a great organization which will help hundreds or even thousands of endangered species. My sister's hard work and passion is something that really makes me want to keep on trying, no matter how many road blocks we find. She is my true Hero and I hope everyone has the opportunity to someday have someone this special in their lives as well. Make sure to visit our website and be sure to watch our video as well.
www.onemoregeneration.org