Whiz Kid of the Week: Andrew Kirz

Four years ago, when he was just three years old, Tam Valley resident Andrew Kirz watched as his older brother Brian donated the entire contents of his piggy bank to the Nature Conservancy.

Brian Kirz, then 7, was spurred to do so by a story about the creation of a greenhouse to propagate coral reefs, and when his parents Steven and Flavia told him that they donate to the Nature Conservancy, an organization whose aims include saving coral reefs from destruction, Brian Kirz instantaneously wanted to donate the money he’d raised from the tooth fairy and others to the group.

That coral reef story hadn’t been discussed much recently in the Kirz household, until Andrew Kirz recently announced that he’d follow in his brother’s footsteps and donate to the Nature Conservancy.

“He told me out of the blue he wanted to do this,” Steven Kirz said. “Younger brothers are competitive. He must have thought of it as a rite of passage.”

Displaying a gap-toothed smile that revealed the origin of his tooth fairy jackpot, Andrew Kirz donated $137.88 to the Nature Conservancy at its San Francisco office earlier this month.

“I gave my piggy bank to The Nature Conservancy to help them save plants and animals from going extinct like the dinosaurs did,” said Andrew Kirz.  “It took me two to three years to save all this money, most of it from the tooth fairy. The Nature Conservancy can buy an island with this to protect the plants and animals on it.”

“Kids like Andrew make me optimistic about the future of our planet,” said Mike Sweeney, executive director of the Nature Conservancy in California. “Knowing the next generation values nature makes me feel good about the work we do.”

In making his donation, both Andrew Kirz and his beneficiary had inflation – and possibly the loss of more teeth – on their side. Kirz’s donation of $137.88 bested that of his brother by around $60.