A St. Petersburg eighth grader trying to help Syrian refugees will be attending a speech on Capitol Hill by President Donald Trump, who wants to ban Syrian refugees from America.
- Rep. Charlie Crist invited Oliver Hess, 14, to be his guest at speech
- Crist extended invitation after Oliver wrote him a letter
- Oliver's efforts part of annual "Passion Project" at school
Oliver Hess, 14, has been invited by Congressman Charlie Crist to be his guest at the speech on Tuesday.
“I listen to news reports and see the pictures of the families leaving war-torn Syria and the pictures of dead children," said Oliver. “Something just clicked. I knew I wanted to help a Syrian family.”
So Oliver decided on helping to resettle a refugee family as his annual “Passion Project” at Shorecrest Preparatory School. Currently, a family friend is providing a home for the Syrian family. Oliver is working with a local resettlement agency to bring the family to St. Petersburg.
Oliver sent a letter detailing his plan to Representative Crist.
“I was very moved by the language of the letter,” said Crist. “It was very mature. I was impressed that he was trying to get a Syrian family to come to Florida to have some safety and refuge and more importantly some peace.”
Oliver says he is excited to go to Washington D.C. and listen to the President speak, even though he strongly disagrees with the travel ban.
“I would not like to change my beliefs and what I think is morally correct,” he said. “But of course I will listen to his speech.”