Belmont Youth needs your vote!

Shocked by an article in the New York Times which profiled the dangers to kids as young as 9 from nicotine poisoning resulting from working up to 12 hours/day in North Carolina tobacco fields, Nico decided to figure out what he could do to help. Youth working in these fields use garbage bags, slit to give them arm and head access as their only source of protection from the nicotine oil they’re exposed to as they work. But that still leaves their faces, arms and more unprotected. However upset the American Pediatrics Association and others are, the article was clear - there will be no reviews of the appropriate age for farm labor for the next 2 years. So Nico is trying to get a $5000 award from the YMCA, which has just opened a national contest to identify community initiatives, a few of which they’ll fund. He’d use the funds to buy up to 1000 Tyvek hooded overalls in a variety of youth and small adult sizes, and work with 4-H organizations in North Carolina to get these to the farms or to central access points. If you can, please cast your vote for his idea, or pick one that you like better at http://mfpp.ymca.net/project/shielding-kids-1. Voting can happen every day until October 24th.