Neha Gupta

At a very young age, Neha Gupta learned of the needs of underprivileged children. Embracing her heritage, she spent each birthday giving food and gifts to orphans in India while visiting her grandparents. By age nine, Neha was distraught to learn the orphans lacked the means to acquire proper education. Understanding the importance of an education and a supportive family to guide one through life, she turned her empathy for the children into action. A mere 13 years old, Neha created Empower Orphans, a non-profit organization that uses several fund-raising methods to collect money for underprivileged and orphaned children and provide them with opportunities for education and an improved quality of life.

Beginning with a garage sale of her toys, Neha’s fund-raising efforts blossomed, and eventually expanded to making and selling wine charms and participating in craft fairs. She traveled door to door in her community to help make an impact on other children’s lives. Her passion to help others was so contagious that her classmates also helped her raise money for her organization.

Observing the need to improve education, Empower Orphans started a library in 2006 at an Indian orphanage in the hometown of Neha’s grandparents. Two hundred children received stationery and 20 older children now have trade books from which they can learn to be self-sufficient. Additionally, nutritious food, warm clothes, blankets and footwear were provided to the children to brave the treacherous winters in northern India. She extended her caring spirit further, helping improve education for 360 underprivileged students of Shree Geeta Public School. Ten of the older girls can now become seamstresses and develop independence with their new sewing machines. More so, Neha sponsored 10 children’s education and single-headedly organized dental and eye exams for the 360 children.

From Neha’s efforts, she has managed to raise $14,000 for Empower Orphans. She recently received the Gold Level of the President’s Volunteer Service Award, and accepted second prize in 2008 for Wachovia Corporation’s “Who Would You Thank” national award. Neha’s goal for 2010 is to raise $20,000 to start a library for Shree Geeta Public School, support a center for 35 hearing and speech impaired children and build a vocation-training center for older children. An inspiration and role model for other young teenagers, Neha’s philanthropic accomplishments at such a young age are to be commended.

Grant Reed

A Mobile Health Clinic Manned by Med Students Hits the Streets of Illinois

Although he’s still in school to become a doctor, Grant Reed didn’t wait for a diploma to begin helping his community to heal. As a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, Grant created the Illini Medical Screening Society (IMSS). IMSS is a student-run mobile health clinic that provides free medical screening service to the underserved and uninsured residents of Champaign County.

A large segment of Grant’s community has limited access to healthcare services. Fortunately, since the creation of IMSS, over 250 individuals lacking healthcare coverage have been tested for hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol and subsequently referred to local free medical clinics for further treatment.

Grant Reed was instrumental to this organization's creation, the solicitation of funding, the recruitment of his peers to assist the cause, and the creation of a training program. Grant has brought together community health organizations, public health departments, and university student organizations for a common goal. Since the creation of IMSS, Grant has scheduled and supervised eighteen free-screening events in five cities throughout Champaign County. He plans to continue with eight events for an estimated 150 individuals per academic semester.

This past May, Grant graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular & Cellular Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. But his service will continue on. He plans to become a physician serving a rural or underserved community and he intends to serve future patients with the same care and dedication he has demonstrated through the founding of the Illini Medical Screening Society.

Alison Bradford Gorrie

A visionary has sight for a cause, Allison Bradford Gorrie can relate. She may be visually impaired, but Allison sees the impact of charity pristinely.

Born with a birth defect that causes low vision, Allison, 16, has adapted to blindness and is a lifetime patient of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Ophthalmology. Not wanting her impairment to deter her from teenaged independence, she is learning to use bioptic driving glasses and other visual aids with the help of the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation. As a thank you, she created Songs for Sight, a one-time musical event designed to raise money for UAB’s Department of Ophthalmology and the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation.

Enabling the partnership of the UAB Department of Ophthalmology, the Eye Sight Foundation of Alabama and community volunteers, Allison made Songs for Sight a successful benefit concert. Performances from several musical artists, including Grace Potter, Drew Mays and the Red Mountain Theatre Performing Ensemble, and a surprise appearance from Condoleezza Rice were some of the concert’s highlights. With over 600 attendees at Songs for Sight, Allison helped the audience to understand the challenges of vision impairment with the creative use of low vision glasses.

The extensive work that went into Songs for Sight reaped massive benefits. Allison’s fundraising efforts will vastly impact the low vision community in Alabama and worldwide. Half of the funds raised will be used to support research purposes at UAB Optic Nerve Imaging Center to develop imaging of the retina and analyze a variety of ocular, neurologic and systemic conditions. This type of optics research will now have the opportunity to improve the lives of people suffering from diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, retinal degeneration and glaucoma. The UAB Center or Low Vision Rehabilitation will use the other half of the fundraising money to create a support group, expand the center’s operational needs, and develop assistive technology for young adults, which some insurance plans do not generally cover for the low vision community.

Allison’s commitment to the improvement of the low vision community helped Songs for Songs raise $420,000 for her cause. The success of this event demonstrates Allison’s indomitable spirit and how she approaches life with a positive attitude toward making a difference.

Adner Marcelin

When dealing with the well being of the community, Adner Marcelin has no boundaries. A friend once told him that he could not invest his personal finances in his community. He simply said, “If it will help one person improve their situation, then it improves the community that I am a part of. That’s money well spent.”

Adner, 22, strives to make a positive influence in his community. He has mentored young people with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Big Bend and the NAACP Youth Council to make a difference with others. Instead of merely talking about change, Adner takes initiative to make it happen. He founded Marcelin & Mason Community Outreach, Inc., a non-profit organization that leads dedicated individuals to mitigate the needs of the community through community service, empowerment and education

Disaster relief, food and clothing drives and environmental clean-ups are some of the community service opportunities focused to educate others how important it is to give back regardless of status in life. Empowerment in the community focuses on financial education, health awareness, and other self-improvement tips. Marcelin & Mason Community Outreach Inc.’s last mission is to encourage others to be ambitious, providing scholarships to reward hard-working students in need.

Due to Adner’s dedication and service, his community senses that someone truly cares. After a Back To School Drive Adner held in August 2009, a young girl ran up and hugged him, thanking him for the backpack she has for school. His effect on his community has given people a new attitude and outlook on life.

Todd Schmidt

Todd Schmidt knows sacrifice. As a U.S. Army Soldier of 13 years, he dedicates every day of his life to serving his country, and his unwavering desire to serve transcends patriotism.

Surveying local schools during his deployment in Afghanistan, he noticed the students desperately needed basic classroom and school supplies. After expressing his concern in letters for Afghan school conditions, his desire to better the Afghan community fostered several anonymous U.S. donors to send care packages on his behalf. Todd has since founded and led Operation Dreamseed, an organization that supports and funds education initiatives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Colombia and Nicaragua.

Working to build, restore and renovate schools in Afghanistan, Todd works to give students quality for their educational efforts. In Afghanistan, he learned how important a solid education contributes to the stability and security of a global community, especially in countries blighted by conflict. As a result, Todd works to build schools and supply countless students with school supplies through Army units as well as establish English Language education scholarships in Nicaragua.

From Todd’s efforts, he and other volunteers have provided countless students in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Colombia and Nicaragua with the school supplies they need. The organization has rebuilt two schools in Afghanistan, supplied school necessities to several orphanages in Colombia and schools in Kosovo, and granted two scholarships to exceptional Nicaraguan students in 2009 to learn English.

Operation Dreamseed works to educate young minds, helping students receive the proper nurturing and care they need to succeed. For Todd, he knows that helping these children cultivates the seeds to help their dreams become reality.

Grace, Sharon and Eric Li

In May 2008 when Grace, Sharon, and Eric Li observed the terrible disaster caused by a large earthquake in China, they founded the non-profit We Care Act at just 12, 11 and 7 years old.

We Care Act aides child disaster victims who suffer from lack of food, clothing, access to education and emotional support. We Care Act volunteers have provided food, clothing, books and a sense of community to survivors of the 2008 earthquake in China, Hurricane Ike and the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Through We Care Act, Grace, Sharon and Eric engage youth around the world to help others in need. They have recruited 30 team leaders from China, Canada, Singapore and the United States to get involved in disaster relief and community service. We Care Act unites young people through service and develops leadership skills in young volunteers to help them act as team leaders. We Care Act volunteers talk with friends and neighbors, educate the greater community and collect donations for disaster relief.

Utilizing school-wide donations of clothing and book drives at local elementary, middle and junior high schools, We Care Act has raised approximately $12,000 in funds and collected over 4,500 items, valued at an estimated $24,000 for survivors of disaster relief in the last two years.

The siblings

Grace, Sharon, and Eric Li are unique. At very young ages, they show determination and entrepreneurial spirits. They connect with family and friends to influence others and use their unique skill sets to provide needed supplies for natural disaster survivors.

Gloria Owczarski

One of the greatest gifts a volunteer can give is not just a dollar, a lesson, or a bit of their time, but a new feeling or confidence in the person they are helping. Gloria Owczarski’s Day of Beauty does this by beauty treatments to kids with special needs. Using her own experience with the special needs population as inspiration, she has inspired others to do the same.

Growing up with a sister with Down Syndrome, Gloria has always had an interest in the welfare of the special needs population. Already a swim coach for the Special Olympics, Gloria decided she could do more. Organizing stylists and service technicians in the Atlanta area, Gloria created the Day of Beauty to give kids with special needs and their teachers a day of massages, manicures, haircuts, styling, and other beauty treatments.

This service not only leaves the kids feeling good on the outside, but on the inside as well. Many come from families that cannot afford to take their kids to salons, nor give them the maintenance required of just being a girl. They leave the experience ready to show off their new looks, and share their new confidence with the world.

It is often said that charity starts at home. For Gloria, it didn’t stop there. Inspired by her sister, her hero, Gloria’s doors were opened to not only helping others, but providing an outlet to spread caring and confidence.

Betsy Beckmann

Betsey Beckmann will literally give you the clothes off of her back. In fact, she has. With a smile, she has given a child a coat of hers to keep warm during the brutal winters in the St. Louis, Missouri area. It is with this same wit and passion that Betsey started and organized Coat-A-Kid, an organization that provides coats to low-income families during the winter.

Betsey started the Coat-A-Kid organization single-handedly when she saw children without coats during winter months at her daughters’ school. She then started handing out coats to kids at her daughters’ school and progressively started adding others. Her efforts eventually lead to the birth of the non-for-profit Coat-A-Kid in 2001. But what makes Betsy’s organization so unique is her hands-on approach to serving kids in her community. She takes the time to shake each child’s hand and makes certain that the coats each child receives is in top-notch condition and fits perfectly. She also personally inscribes each child’s name into their new coat giving them a feeling of ownership.

Her personal efforts have resulted in phenomenal outcomes. In 2008 alone, Coat-A-Kid has provided coats, hats and gloves to 900 children in 5 school districts, 3 Head Start programs and 6 foster homes. This year she plans to increase her success by joining forces with the St. Louis Public Schools. This partnership ensures that the number of children impacted by Coat-A-Kid will increase to nearly 3,000 students.

Through her efforts, Betsey Beckmann has provided warmth to children who live without the luxury of a heated home or warm car. By training others, Betsey will continue to give the clothes off her back to those in need through Coat-A-Kid.

Carly and Molly Houlahan

Carly and Molly Houlahan have learned how to overcome problems and use their tribulations to inspire change with their honey selling business Hive for Lives. After experiencing the loss of their grandfather to esophageal cancer at young ages, Carly and Molly Houlahan, at the ages of 9 and 11, started a honey company where profits go to the research of cancer cures.

Through their hands on approach (tending the bees and harvesting, spinning, bottling, labeling, and marketing the 12 ounce jars of honey themselves), Carly and Molly have donated more than $160,000 of their profits to find a cure for cancer. But their dedication to change doesn’t stop there. These young entrepreneurs manage 50 kids under the age of 18 years old who volunteer their time to the business. They also maintain corporate relationships with Whole Foods Markets in 9 of 11 regions in support of the local honey market, work weekends and nights to maintain their business operations (selling at fairs and farmer’s markets, answering emails, working on their website and packing orders) while also offering advice at business conferences, bee keeping gatherings, schools, churches and community events. At these events, Carly and Molly have promoted the importance of bees to the environment, the joy of community service, and the power of youth.

Together, Carly and Molly Houlahan have given chunks of $15,000-20,000 to fund one researcher for a year on a new project for cancer research. Their unique business has combined community service, entrepreneurism and environmentalism. While providing financial support for a cure to the one of every two women and the one in three men who will be diagnosed with cancer, Carly and Molly have also dedicated their time educating the public on the important roles bees have on our environment. Bees provide a third of the food we eat due to pollination; yet, we have lost over half of our domestic bee population to Colony Collapse Disorder. Through Hives of Lives, Carly and Molly make it their mission to inform the public of this phenomenon.

Around 20,000 people have purchased a jar of honey which has supported about 8 years of research. Carly and Molly Houlahan are shining examples of how one can turn his or her lost into a fortune for others.

Alyssa Hersey

Alyssa Hersey is a perfect example that change can start with anyone, anywhere, at anytime. A young teen that excels at her school work, Alyssa has used her passion for change to inspire her peers through her organization USE IT, U can Serve Everywhere, Involve your Talent.

Alyssa has been taught the importance of giving back since the tender age of 8. As she recalls on her website, “My parents have always demonstrated giving back and have shown me and my siblings that volunteering starts at home and there are no efforts too small.” It is within this same spirit of “starting at home” that Alyssa has formed an organization called USE IT. After volunteering with Alpha Omega Miracle Home, raising money for the Ronald McDonald House, acquiring free books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and lending her vocal prowess for the United Way, American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity, Alyssa has decided to motivate others in using their talent to provoke change.

At the young age of 14, Alyssa Hersey has used her spirit of volunteerism to reach her friends in using their talent in giving back. Her efforts through USE IT have lead others in joining her in bringing about change.