Cluck! Cluck! 5th grader’s town listens and learns from her.

5th grader Phoebe Handelman and one of her pals.

South Orange New Jersey: 5th grader Phoebe Handelman wrote to the local paper ““Chickens are wonderful animals, not just as food, but as pets. Residents can have chickens and so can most other towns and villages of New Jersey. It is our land… WE own it and should be able to do most things to it, such as have chickens, on our property”.

"Phoebe's Chicken Ordinance" is the way South Orange now refer to the right to raise foul in their town. The village president Sheena Collum wrote “Phoebe, with the assistance of her very supportive parents Kathryn Deetz Handelman and Marc Handelman, went through the correct and rigorous process of researching best practices, meeting with our Environmental Commission, Trustees, and Health Officer, and also understanding the tradeoffs of why we needed some restrictions and that we needed compromise in certain areas. I'm very proud of Phoebe and you should be too. It was only 4 months ago that I had my first FaceTime interview with this amazing young woman who took the time to educate me on this topic.

“I have a soft spot for youth. I think it comes from not being taken seriously when I was in 5th grade and wishing that adults would listen to me more. So while I hope our new backyard chicken ordinance is a great success, I think the larger lesson is that one person can make a difference - even if it comes in the form of a 10-year old with a dream and a chicken hat.” For more on this: https://villagegreennj.com/opinion/letter-5th-grader-south-orange-permit-backyard-chickens/

Adults join Phoebe in a chicken dance to celebrate her big win. Cluck! Cluck!