UNITED STATES

Allyson A., 16, Santa Rosa, CA

Allyson created Threads for Teens, a clothing boutique that helps girls in need, ages 13-17, build self-esteem and confidence while giving them hope. Girls have the opportunity to visit the store and shop for items they need, all at no cost. So far, Allyson has raised approximately $75,000 for Threads for Teens and has recruited 30 volunteers to help with her shop. She also has helped Girl Scouts receive Bronze Awards by providing opportunities for volunteerism. To date, more than 120 girls have visited her store and she has donated more than 70 backpacks filled with school supplies.

Benjamin H., 8, Wildwood, MO

Ben has raised money and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  He has actively been involved in LLS’s “Light the Night Walk,” among other campaigns.  In addition, Ben has orchestrated several “Lemonade for Leukemia Stands” with friends from school.  To date, Ben and his team of volunteers have raised more than $30,000 for LLS. Ben has been an Honored Hero for LLS campaigns and often participates in speaking engagements.  He also encourages fellow patients through his blog, which has nearly 20,000 visitors.

Blakely C., 17, Solvang, CA

Blakely created the nonprofit organization Cupcakes for Cancer to raise funds to support pediatric research, grant wishes, and assist children with cancer. She and her team of volunteers bake cupcakes that are sold after school and at local events. Through Cupcakes for Cancer, Blakely has raised $85,000, granted seven wishes and has been able to provide two $1,000 college scholarships. She has also designed a national outreach campaign, "Frosting HOPE Across America," to inspire others to bake and donate.  Fifteen states now have Cupcake Angels kids and clubs to further the cause.

Cassandra L., 13, Westerly, RI

After reading an article in the local newspaper, Cassandra discovered that many residents could not afford to heat their homes. Inspired by this need, she formed a team of five seventh graders to create TGIF (Turn Grease Into Fuel). She works with local biofuel companies to recycle the grease from residents and restaurants, refine it into biodiesel and distribute it to needy families and local charities. TGIF's efforts have enabled 92 families to keep warm during the cold winters. The organization also drafted and passed a newly enacted law that mandates waste cooking oil recycling in Rhode Island.

Catherine M., 16, Oceanside, CA

Catherine founded Beauty 4 Life, a socially-minded business offering handcrafted Ugandan jewelry to create dignity, work and opportunity for Ugandan women. The goal of Beauty 4 Life is to help the Ugandan women educate their children and provide for their families. She has built women’s centers, schools and childcare centers. She has also provided business, finance, health, and language(English)  lessons to Ugandan women. Catherine has raised more than $100,000 and donated over 5,000 pounds of school supplies and basic items to benefit her cause.

Cavan M., 10, Jefferson, MD

Cavan founded Socks for Vets, an organization working to provide supplies, appreciation and advocacy for veterans and wounded warriors. He has devoted approximately 90 hours per month, collected more than 150,000 supplies to help 15,000 service members and recruited more than 4,000 people to assist with the cause.  Cavan works with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation to support events at the Wall in Washington, D.C. and he carries out large scale wreath laying ceremonies on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Clara P., 10, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Clara started Keys for Hope to raise money and awareness for Crisis Ministries, her local homeless shelter. Clara, with the help of her friends, decorates recycled keys with buttons and other embellishments. After the keys are decorated, each is attached to a card explaining the cause and sold as a necklace, key chain, zipper pull or ornament. Keys for Hope has sold approximately 2,000 keys and raised $12,000. Clara chose the key because it symbolizes home and the hope for a better future for Charleston's homeless.

Colton B., 12, Chilton, WI

Colton has raised funds for pediatric cancer research and collected items for hospitalized children. This past year, Colton raised $6,000 for the American Cancer Society and gathered 2,500 toys from around the world to be given as Christmas gifts at St. Vincent's Hospital in Green Bay. Despite his own battle with leukemia he continues to devote his time to helping other children affected by pediatric cancer and he has also gathered more than 240 coats for needy children and collected over 2,000 books for the hospital.

Grace L., 16, Manvel, TX

Grace co-founded We Care Act, which promotes community service through youth education to help disaster victims. She has recruited and trained youth, organized educational workshops and distributed grants.  Grace has engaged nearly 23,000 youths in 17 countries and more than 80 schools in the United States to get involved and help those recovering from disasters.

Jackson B., 8, Merced, CA

Jackson founded and helps run Jack's Snack Packs, a nonprofit organization that sends snack packs full of his favorite treats to deployed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has held snack drives and snack packing parties to fill the packs with a “little taste of home.” Jack has also spearheaded fundraising dinners and sold pixie sticks, caramel apples and “I Know Jack” wristbands to raise funds. Jack has recruited 50 volunteers, raised more than $10,000 and sent approximately 3,000 snack packs to the troops. He stamps each box, “Jack Approved.”

Jamie B., 8, El Paso, TX

Jamie started Angels4Epilepsy, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness for epilepsy and also brings comfort to children in the hospital. Jamie has collected and delivered more than 400 gift bags full of toys, crafts, snacks and drawing items to hospitalized children in Indiana, Georgia, Ohio and Florida and raised more than $30,000. In addition, she helped coordinate the delivery of a large supply of USB medical alert bracelets to the Epilepsy Foundation of Florida to help parents manage their children's medical records.

Joel B., 16, Snohomish, WA

Joel co-founded Hugs for Ghana, a student-led organization dedicated to assisting children in Ghana. He has coordinated collection drives and traveled to Ghana to hand deliver these items to Ghanaian children in hospitals, schools, and orphanages.  Joel’s parents were born in Ghana before moving to the United States and during a trip back to Africa, Joel recognized the need for supplies.  He has since raised more than $7,000 through various donation drives, delivered more than 6,000 school supplies, $2,000 worth of medical supplies, and more than 5,000 teddy bears for Ghanaian children.

Jordan S., 18, Marietta, GA

Jordan founded The Children's Bilingual Theater (CBT), a student run theatrical outreach program committed to bridging the language and cultural gaps in the community and teaching tolerance through theater arts. She has produced six bilingual plays and hosted 15 literacy events at venues in Cobb County and metro-Atlanta. Jordan has raised approximately $34,000 to support CBT and helped recruit more than 200 volunteers who have performed to over 5,000 audience members and a number of school groups.

Joshua W., 10, Miami, FL

Joshua founded Joshua's Heart Foundation (JHF) to help end hunger. Every month Joshua and his crew of 60 to 150 volunteers purchase, collect, sort, pack and distribute grocery items to youth and families in need. Recently, Joshua started cooking demonstrations to show families how to prepare healthy meals and provides them with recipes and seeds to plant. Joshua travels and speaks at various functions about hunger and how to make a difference. JHF has distributed approximately 350,000 pounds of food to more than 7,500 families and raised more than $220,000.

Lexi K., 12, Lockport, NY

To honor her heart transplant anniversary, Lexi organized annual blood drives which generated more than $58,000 in revenue for Unyts, her community organ, tissue, and blood bank. Lexi has spent over six years as a fundraiser, volunteer, and spokesperson on behalf of Unyts. She has furthered the mission of organ and blood donation by speaking at seminars, hospitals, classrooms and community events and has appeared in Unyts’ television, radio and web advertisements.

Lulu C., 12, Encino, CA

Lulu created LemonAID Warriors to empower youth in her community to make a difference. Her first event was a boys vs. girls LemonAID war to benefit Haiti. This concept spread across the country and more than 500 kids ordered LemonAID kits to raise funds and the events raised $4,000 in two weeks. She has since organized community events, called “PhilanthroParties,” to inspire her peers to get involved. Lulu has raised more than $12,000 to benefit various causes, collected more than 2,000 cans of food and recruited 600 volunteers to help support her efforts.

Madelyn M., 17, Belleville, IL

Madelyn co-founded NETwork Against Malaria (NAM) to help save Ugandan children’s lives and keep them in school. Due to malaria, the average Ugandan student misses 60 days of schools per year. NAM provides malaria and health education for American and Ugandan students and raises funding for bed net distribution to Ugandan students and pregnant women.  Madelyn has helped raise approximately $75,000 and purchased 5,500 bed nets to protect up to 16,500 children and pregnant women from malaria. Madelyn’s leadership has inspired 30 high school and college NAM chapters in 18 states.

Maren J., 17, Watertown, SD

When Maren discovered 2.6 million bars of hotel soap were discarded daily, she convinced six of her hometown hotels to begin collecting the used soap. Since then, she has built a network of 300 hotels in four states and Canada that she works with to collect the used bars of soap, reprocess them into new soap bars and sends them to those in need around the world through the Global Soap Project (GSP).  To date, Maren has collected nearly 7,000 pounds of used soap and speaks to youth around the world about the project.

Maria K., 11, Plymouth, MN

When she was eight years old, Maria started Read Indeed, a literacy program that collects and distributes books to kids in need. For the past three years, she has coordinated book drives to benefit children throughout Minnesota, the United States, and internationally. Maria has collected and distributed more than 600,000 books to children in need. Maria has educated other young children about the importance of reading and has involved many young volunteers at her Read Indeed warehouse to help with packing, sorting and shipping books to other children.

Mariah R., 12, Cincinnati, OH

Mariah founded two non-profit organizations, Just One Heart and Glove One Another. Just One Heart creates Valentine's Day cards for soldiers and veterans to show appreciation for the sacrifices they make. The organization has sent 7,500 cards to members of the military. Mariah's second organization, Glove One Another, collects gloves, hats, scarves and socks to distribute to those in need. She has collected and distributed approximately 4,800 items. In total, Mariah has raised approximately $48,000 to support her organizations’ efforts.

Neha G., 15, Yardley, PA

Neha founded the global nonprofit organization Empower Orphans, which has established five libraries, three computer labs, one sewing school and sponsored the education of 50 children. Neha’s mission is to provide orphaned and disadvantaged children with the skills and environment to enable them to become productive members of society. Empower Orphans also provides food, clothing, footwear, health care, and medical supplies to thousands of children. The organization is active in India and the United States and has raised $375,000, collected 15,500 books and 25 van loads of furnishings.

Nicholas L., 14, Cranston, RI

Nicholas started the Gotta Have Sole Foundation which donates new footwear to children living in homeless shelters across the United States.  Shelter advocates send him footwear orders and Nicholas collects, packages and often hand delivers the shoes. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Nicholas held a special event to collect and send new footwear to more than 90 children of the first responders. To date, Nicolas has raised $49,000 to purchased 3,000 pairs of shoes for homeless children.

Nina M., 8, Nashua, NH

Nina helped start the Wish Upon a Crane campaign, where children worldwide fold origami paper peace cranes to benefit earthquake victims in Japan. She has helped lead campaigns and rallied youth worldwide to participate. Children from 12 countries have folded more than 9,000 cranes and raised $18,000 for this effort. The cranes are now part of an art sculpture that was recently unveiled in Japan's Sendai Train Station.  Nina has also sold pottery to benefit Child Health Services, made stuffed animals for orphaned children in Uganda and collected books to stock a library in Kenya.

Rachel W., 12, Lighthouse Point, FL

Rachel has raised $167,400 to build 27 two-room homes and $132,000 to build a school complete with educational supplies in Leogane, Haiti. She has raised funding for her projects through garage sales, lemonade stands, school bake sales and dances, presentations to Chambers of Commerce  and speaking engagements. She supports the efforts of the nonprofit organization Food for The Poor, and its quest to house the unsheltered in Haiti.

Sarah C., 18, Bettendorf, IA

Sarah founded The Sparkle Effect, an organization that helps students across the country form cheerleading and dance teams that include students with disabilities. Students can visit The Sparkle Effect website to obtain information on forming their own teams. The website offers a step-by-step quick-start kit for creating an inclusive team, fundraising ideas, practice tips, information on grants for uniforms, and free on-site training.  To date, the Sparkle Effect has raised more than $150,000 and generated 55 inclusive squads across the country.

Will L., 9, Fort Worth, TX

Will created FROG, Friends Reaching Our Goals, a service group that creates programs and events to raise awareness and funding for the Tarrant Area Food Bank. As part of FROG, he started the "Hits & Kicks Against Hunger" program, where elementary students fight hunger while playing baseball, softball and soccer. He also started “FROG's at the Plate," which brings together business owners and community leaders to raise money for the local food banks. To date, Will and his FROG team have donated approximately 40,000 meals, 6,000 backpacks of food and 3,000 cans of food.

Yash G., 15, Irvine, CA

Yash created Sight Learning, a non-profit organization that supplies donated eyeglasses to students in need in the United States, Mexico and Honduras. To date, Sight Learning has collected more than $35,000 in donations. The organization also organizes and runs eye exam clinics.  Yash wears glasses himself and knows firsthand how difficult learning becomes when you do not have the glasses you need.  Sight Learning has partnered with other organizations, such as VOSH and New Eyes for the Needy and was recently recognized as an Official Presidential Volunteer Service Award Organization.

Yoni K., 17, Washington, DC

In an effort to promote recycling, Yoni founded Color My World (CMW) which collects and repurposes crayons discarded by national restaurant chains and distributes them to shelters and underfunded schools. He also created a coloring book that encourages recycling.  Yoni has partnered with 27 restaurants in nine states, encouraging them to recycle crayons in a bin provided by CMW. He then sanitizes the crayons and contacts schools to organize drop-offs. Yoni has raised approximately $10,000 for his cause, collecting nearly 20,000 crayons and recruiting numerous teen volunteers to help manage the project.

CANADA

Ceilidh M., 18, New Westminster, BC

Ceilidh volunteers over 40 hours a month as a teen reporter, spokesperson and peer advocate for bullying prevention. She shares information about the dangers and consequences of bullying through presentations, television appearances, and articles. Ceilidh's work has been featured on the National Bullying Prevention Center and Teens Against Bullying websites.

Ethan B., 11, Winnipeg, MB

Ethan Burnell serves as an ambassador for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba (CHFM), helping to raise awareness and funds for the organization.  He holds two annual fundraising events, "Ethan's Big Give" and the "Big Give Superbowl Party" to support CHFM.  Ethan started supporting CHFM six years ago and, to date, he has raised more than $30,000 for the organization.