Merrimack Teen Successfully Shines Light On Veterans' Issues

MERRIMACK, NH – What started as a school project for Allison Ouellette is now a cause the Merrimack teen said she plans to continue supporting after the Founders Academy Public Charter School senior organized a rewarding and successful Veterans Day breakfast at Liberty House in Manchester. Ouellette she had 25 people attend the breakfast and panel on veterans' issues, and has raised about $1,300 to benefit the veterans' shelter through her "Educate. Honor. Support." project.

"The panel we had was incredible and I'm really happy with the experts we had join us," Ouellette told Patch. "I've decided that 'Educate. Honor. Support.' is something that I want to continue even though my senior project is finished, so I am deciding what that is going to look like."

Ouellette's project was themed "Learning how to serve those who have offered up everything to serve us" with a goal of raising $5,000 for Liberty House, and bringing awareness to veterans' issues she believes that society overlooks.

She said that while the attendance was scaled down to 25 attendees, she is very happy with how the ambitious project turned out, and that she hopes to continue to raise money through the "Educate. Honor. Support." Facebook campaign.

"I think the hundred that I had been shooting for would have been way too many to corral into the vision I had of my event," said Ouellette, whose great grandfather served in World War II and whose grandfather served in Vietnam. "We raised about $1,000 (on the) day of and we are up to about $1,300 on our Facebook campaign. I'm looking for some ways to push us to that $5,000 mark that I was hoping for, but I think that $2,000 is great for my first go around."

Those who would like to donate to Liberty House through Ouellette's project, can still do so at the website she created for the event or through its Facebook page.

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