Students’ service projects change lives
Creative thinking raises awareness, offers opportunities
For some South Florida students, giving is not confined to the holidays.
All year long, they are brainstorming ways to raise money, find medical supplies, gather used clothing and rethink class science projects, all to help the needy, at home and abroad.
They have founded the kind of community-service projects that impress colleges: creative enterprises that meet long-term community needs.
Meet some teens who set up nonprofit organizations and are working to improve the world.
Paying school lunch debts
Less than a year ago, Christian CordonCano heard a national radio report about some schools “lunch-shaming” students who could not afford to pay for their meals.
Cafeteria staffers would throw out the meals of those who couldn’t pay or force them to eat cheese sandwiches instead of the hot meal eaten by their peers.
Cordon-Cano, a senior at King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, called his friend Bernardo Hasbach, a senior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, to brainstorm ways to assist these students. They decided to start SchoolLunchFairy.org, in which donors help pay off the lunch debts of students in the school district of their choice.
They started by asking family and friends for donations, then started promoting the cause on social media, especially Twitter.
It’s up to each school district to decide how to use the money, CordonCano said. Some have a daily emergency lunch fund, while others let debts accumulate and allow School Lunch Fairy to help pay it off.
School Lunch Fairy has raised about $24,000, donated to 18 school districts in six states, including, $1,000 to Broward County, $600 to Miami-Dade County and $4,500 to Palm Beach County.
“I am now much more aware of segments of the population that are struggling across America,” Cordon-Cano said. “There are families struggling to pay for school lunch, others are struggling to pay for healthcare, and others are having a hard time recovering from hurricanes. Everyone in America deserves an equal opportunity.”
Suits for debate team competitors
High school students in debate and business clubs are told to wear business attire to competitions. But suits — and related accessories — are expensive and unaffordable to many participants.
Kaitlyn Coyne, 18, a senior at Coral Glades High School in Coral Springs, noticed that many of the participants instead wore jeans, casual dresses and T-shirts.
That’s when she started Suit Up With Kaitlyn, which collects and distributes business attire to students participating in competitions. She started collecting clothing and began soliciting businesses for donations, which prompted her to develop newfound talents.
“I’ve had to develop stronger speaking skills so I could confidently walk into businesses and ask for support,” Coyne said. “I’ve also developed the resilience to be told ‘no’ repeatedly, smile, say thank you, and continue to the next business.”
“I plan to have this project continue after I graduate,” Coyne said. “My sister is currently in debate and will be a freshman next year, so I anticipate that she will be involved as well. I, of course, will be home from college over breaks and will continue to help build the program. I also believe that university students have a need for business clothing for job interviews and internships, and I hope to bring the project to whichever university I’m fortunate to attend.”
Preserving the rain forest
It’s not easy to get to the Peruvian rain forest, but Tess Flemma has made the trip twice in the past three years.
She first visited in 2015, intending to bring supplies to a little school in Urubamba and teach the children English. But a brief excursion to the Amazon rain forest convinced her and fellow Boca Raton High student John Schuttler that they needed to help save the forest from the clear-cutting of trees, extensive cattle ranching, dam construction and bulldozing that threatens to destroy it.
That’s when they created Our Planet Inc., a nonprofit organization and Boca High club dedicated to aiding Peru by bringing aquaponics systems that use soil-free farming techniques to grow plants and fish. The enclosed systems allow users to save on water consumption, pesticide use and transportation costs, all issues that affect the Peruvian forests.
Our Planet has held garage sales and yoga fundraisers to buy the aquaponics systems, which have allowed the community of Puerto Maldonado to grow vegetables.
Flemma also hopes to raise enough money to purchase conservation land in the Amazon and help clean up South Florida’s waters.
“My nonprofit has allowed me to see my true passions and also see that not everything is sunshine and smiles,” Flemma said. “People in Third World countries struggle every day to try to maintain themselves, not because they choose to live a strenuous life, but because they are never educated on how to live in harmony with nature and others around them.”
Providing shoes, opportunities
In middle school, Tiernan Ramer heard many girls joke about their obsession with shoes and how many pairs they owned. But she knew there were many students who couldn’t afford any shoes.
Ramer, now 17, started collecting sneakers, sandals, shoes and boots and quickly gathered 100 pairs. She remembers a pair of boots with rainbow laces and the needy 8-year-old girl who selected them.
“To see the shoes that I collected make someone so happy was the most satisfying feeling,” she said. “After that, my appetite for helping others became insatiable.”
Ramer, a senior at South Plantation High, started Tiernan’s Soles Shoe Drive. It works closely with In Jacob’s Shoes, which cleans and distributes the shoes to needy kids.
Jacob’s tells Ramer what kinds of shoes are needed: When there was a need for soccer cleats, Ramer set up a collection center at the Plantation Athletic League.
Three years later, she had collected more than 1,000 pairs. She places donation receptacles in gyms, day care centers, doctors’ offices and salons.
“Through volunteering I have learned that there are as many people willing to help as there are people needing help. The key is connecting them,” she said.
Ramer found that shoes are more than an accessory.
“Shoes are the key to walking with confidence,” she said. “They also have the power to unlock opportunities some kids may never have, such as playing sports, successful job interviews, or even going to prom.”