Teens are showing ingenuity and drive during pandemic

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, communities across the country have discovered a powerful resource has stepped forward to make a difference: America’s teenagers.

They have delivered groceries to older adults, offered online tutoring, emailed sick children, helped feed the hungry. And then there are those like 15-year-old Valerie Xu, who raised money to buy masks to donate to a Dallas hospital and homeless shelter.

Xu began raising funds in March. She was alarmed that some health care workers were having trouble getting masks. The response, she said, helped restore her optimism.

Xu started raising money to buy masks in March, when supplies were scarce in the United States. Xu has relatives in China, a major manufacturer, and figured out she could get quality masks from suppliers there at a good price. She found some whose products were approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and enlisted her Mandarin-speaking mother’s help to reach out to them.

Xu has so far has raised more than $23,000, which includes more than $12,000 from donations on her GoFundMe page, a $10,000 match from a company and $1,200 she contributed from her savings. The 52,600 masks she’s purchased so far include surgical, FFP2 and three-layer varieties.

In Cupertino, California, 17-year-old Nelson Mu and fellow high school students started teaching online classes to younger children after schools closed in the spring. More than 2,500 kids from across the U.S. are now taking the free virtual courses on everything from math and science to art and dance, taught by a couple hundred teens through the organization YAPA Kids.

Early on in the pandemic, friends Dhruv Pai, 16, and Matthew Casertano, 15, of Silver Spring, Maryland, realized they were both delivering groceries to their grandparents. They decided to reach out to friends to do the same for other older people who were self-isolating.

Teens Helping Seniors now has more than 650 volunteers nationwide and in Canada making free deliveries. The pandemic, Pai said, “has reignited the spirit of volunteering in our generation and within our community.”

Xu has so far has raised more than $23,000, which includes more than $12,000 from donations on her GoFundMe page, a $10,000 match from a company and $1,200 she contributed from her savings.

TONY GUTIERREZ / AP Valerie Xu, 15, delivers masks to a medical center in Dallas. Xu is among teens across the U.S. who decided to take action during the pandemic. The pandemic “has reignited the spirit of volunteering in our generation and within our community,” a teen said.