2017 Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel

As the 2016 Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen, my year of service has been nothing short of amazing! I have volunteering weekly at my local pet adoption center and have participated in many events with my local Humane Society this year.   I was honored to take my title all the way to India where I was able to witness my fundraising efforts that helped build a clean water well for villagers and a drinking water facility for animals in my Grandfather’s birth village. Baking cookies at the Ronald McDonald House, participating in the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society Walk and volunteering at the Officers Down 5K with my SC sisters queen was so much fun!  I promoted Gorilla awareness by doing an educational presentation and making a care package for The Gorilla Foundation.  National American Miss has not only boosted my confidence but also encouraged me to speak out and to be determined and kind.

I want to wish all of the contestants the best of luck! Through National American Miss, I have made everlasting friendships and have had so many opportunities to make a difference and I hope that each of you will too! I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous journey with NAM…and remember: once a NAM girl, always a NAM girl!

Fondly,

Jia Patel – 2016 Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen

2017 Miss South Carolina Jr. Teen Kayla Geer

Wow It’s hard to believe my year is coming to an end. I have had an amazing year of service and meeting so many people and experiencing more than I could have ever imagined. Over the past year my family, friends and I have volunteered over 100 hours at Greater Spartanburg Ministries. From realizing first hand how much of a difference I was making, I wanted to help even more so I created my own project Kayla’s Can’s For Charity, where I collected non perishable food items and donated them to this faith based organization. I’ve volunteered many hours with the Ronald McDonald House this year, baking cookies and meeting so many nice people. I volunteered at the officers down 5k where I helped families of the officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. It was so cool getting to ride in my hometowns Christmas parade benefiting the Harvest Hope Food Bank. The highlight of my year was flying over 2000 miles to California. I have learned so much from NAM that I’ll cherish forever. To the beautiful contestants, Be yourself, and never give up on yourself. To the next Jr Teen, enjoy every minute. Your year will fly by so don’t take it for granted. Take this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others and know that one act of kindness can help change the world.

For the last time I am your 2016 National American Miss South Carolina Jr. Teen. Kayla Geer

2016 Miss Georgia Pre-Teen Damacia Howard Ronald McDonald House Hot Chocolate Run

On Sunday, January 22nd – Damácia volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House Hot Chocolate 5K/15K Run starting at 6:00am. There were over 20,000 participants.

2016 Miss South Carolina Queens ‘Cookies from the Heart’

These are some of the photos of the 2016 South Carolina Queens. We were able to get together and make a variety of different cookies in Greenville, SC for 25 guests at the house Ronald McDonald House. I had a lot of fun organizing this and everyone had such a fun time.

 

2016 Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel Clean Water Crusader

Jia Patel (Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen) spent the past year proudly
fundraising with her family. She helped raise over $20,000 to build a
clean water well in her grandfather’s birth village in India. They also
used these funds to build a drinking water facility for the animals in
this very hot and dry farming village.

Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel
Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel in India

Jia was very grateful to have been able to take her South Carolina NAM
title to India this past December 2016 to see her fundraising efforts in
person. Jia plans to continue to promote awareness about the need for
people worldwide to have access to clean safe water.

Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel
Miss South Carolina Jr. Pre-Teen Jia Patel in India

2016 Miss Georgia Pre-Teen Damacia Howard meets Mayor Vince Williams

Damácia had a meeting with the Mayor of Union City, GA Mayor Vince Williams.

2016 Miss Georgia Pre-Teen Damacia Howard and Mayor Vince Willams

2016 Miss Georgia Pre-Teen Damacia Howard and Publix Partnership

Damácia established a community partnership with Publix Supermarket. They donated Publix shopping bags for Damácia to use for school supplies she was donating from the State Pageant.

Damácia packing and donating school supplies to the parent liaison at Liberty Point Elementary School in Union City, GA and Thy Kingdom Has Come International Ministries Smyrna, GA.

Packing supplies

Delivering supplies

2016 Miss Georgia Queens meet Governor Nathan Deal

The 2016 Miss Georgia State Queens had the opportunity to meet Georgia State Governor Nathan Deal.

2016 Miss Georgia Pre-Teen Damacia Howard “Books for Africa”

Damácia collects books for “Books for Africa”.

The first 6 months, she collected over 5,000 books.

During her second book drive she collected over 5,000 books ? again.

 

2016 Miss Georgia Teen Imani Johnson volunteers with back to school programs

“Service is the rent you pay in order to be here on this earth”

-Muhammad Ali

I had a phenomenal day serving my community alongside Hands on Atlanta with their back to school program.

We decorated bags and then filled them with the school supplies donated by the National American Miss Georgia contestants. We filled over 50 bags that will be donated to local elementary schools throughout Atlanta.

I was also honored to donate to the Stuff the Bus for United Way in Fulton county.