The Giving Back Movement
January' 2023
A movement to change the world for the better, and it starts with "you." I alone can't change the world by myself; I need others by my side.
Thank you to Youth4Us ambassadors for supporting and bringing the change and making a positive impact in the world.
I have a quick tale from my vacation to share from my trip that made me happy and content.
As an avid reader, I was on my way to see my cousins and aunt while reading an Indian story book. Suddenly a young child knocked on the window next to me. As I lowered the window to speak, she asked for money.
I replied by asking her in a local language, "Paise Nahi Hain, Magar Book Hain." "Book Padni Hain?"
(Translating for my English-speaking friends: I don't have any money to give, but I do have a book. Would you like to read a book?)
She nodded her head and murmured, "Haan,
(Translating for my pals: "Yes with a nod)
She graciously and joyfully accepted the book instead of money, and I can see a smile of inspiration spreading across her face. I turned around to look back at her; instead of approaching to another car to beg, she had moved to the sidewalk where she was sitting and flipping through the book and grinning at the pictures in the book.
At that precise moment, I had a sense of accomplishment: "I done something good today," and thus, for Youth4Us, "The Giving Back Movement" starts.
Moral: If a kid receives a book, even if they are unable to read, they will be excited and intrigued. Once they see the book and the illustrations, they will undoubtedly want to read a book and make an effort to learn to read. As a result, donated The Hope Foundation in India more than 100 books.
3Rs's Crayons -Reduce, Recycle and Repurpose
February' 2023
I went to a restaurant with my immediate and extended family. We were 4 kids, and each received free crayons to color. After the dinner, as we were leaving the restaurant, I turned to look back at the table with crayons left over there. The server came in to clean up the table and I noticed that the crayons were thrown away immediately after being used just once.
Suddenly, the question - Why? Sprang to my mind. Why not reduce waste, recycle and repurpose these crayons and donate to a charity, a school, a hospital or to the kids who can't afford by recreating it with magic and love and also protecting the environment at the same time.
Do you know, each Restaurant waste hundreds of crayons each day which results into millions of crayons waste each year.
This brings in the idea to start "3R's - Reduce, Recycle and Repurpose" Initiative.
1. Collect the used crayons from restaurants, which otherwise would be in the landfills.
2. Sort them based on colors
3. Sanitize/Melt them.
4. Create new crayon design.
5. Repackage into a new box -pack of 4 or 6.
6. Distribute/Donate
So, I reached out to several restaurants and explained about my idea and the whole 6 step process mentioned above to the General Manager that I would like to start in Washington.
I am so happy that this initiative resonates with them. Thank you BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse- Redmond location and The Family Pancake House- Redmond. They have partnered with Youth4Us to kickstart this initiative and support community giveback movement.
This initiative is not only betterment for our environment but also promotes community giving by engaging young kids in the process.
The Youth4Us kids' ambassadors will work together on this effort responsible for collection, sorting, melting, creating new crayon in different shapes, repackage and distribute to schools, hospitals, charities. #kidshelpingkids.
The collection process already started, and we had our first tie up to donate new crayons produced from 3R's initiative for Art Therapy.
Fundraising- VALA Eastside
March' 2023
A productive time spent with our future youth who came to volunteer their time given its “Sunday”.
This is called building healthy environment which would lead to empathy in these young kids including me.
Youth4Us collaborated with Zoya's Rainbow Touch to organize the fundraising to support the local nonprofit VALA Eastside Art Center by donating volunteer hours .
All the volunteers painted the beautiful artwork and donated them to local shelters for women and children who have suffered from physical abuse and homelessness through Girls Giving Back (GGB) Be Kind 5and Sweety Saradha Arts thanks for this opportunity!
“Together we care, together we grow !”
Hershey's Grant
April 2023
It’s an honor for Youth4us to present about 3Rs initiative to the respected city council members and to the Mayor of Bellevue and the Deputy of Mayor. 3R’s has been selected for the generous grant provided by Youth Service America and The Hershey Company
Thank you
Fundraising Event - Youth4Us
May' 2023
After the first fundraising event was a success, my 6-year-old sister Varalika decided to host a second fundraiser for Youth4Us on International Women's Day at the Women Ikon event. As a result, she was able to manage subtraction with efficiency and effectiveness, thus enhancing her arithmetic abilities. It was so fun watching her and gaining so much confidence.
The raised money will be used to support the Youth4Us Redmond Children Business Fair on July 8th,2023.
#communitygiving #kidshelpingkids #BuildingFutureLeaders #youth4us #fundraiser #
Literacy Bood Aid Drive
June' 2023
Youth4Us partnered with Mary's Place where Youth4us volunteers collected 1000+ books and donated to @Mary’s Place, its a non-profit in Seattle that ensures no child sleep outside and providing them shelter and empowering them by providing resources and basic necessities.
Youth4Us ambassadors played a key role in this donation by coming together, helping and their self less passion to give back to community is acknowledged and appreciated.
“Aarush, Sadie, Olivia, Felix, Varalika, Vihaan, Ishi , Anusha & Gaurangi” - thank you
Thank you @Javin Smith (volunteer engagement director) for this partnership, willingness to know more about us, believing in us and giving an opportunity to serve our community and help kids.
Youth4Us: The Giving Back Movement, movement to change the world for better and its starts from "You".
#communitygiving #youth4us #thegivingmovement #thegivingbackmovement #kidshelpingkids #BuildingFutureLeaders #promoteliteracy
Youth4Us 3rd Redmond Children’s Business Fair 2023, Redmond Washington.
July' 2023
It was an awesome fair, the feedback received was “overwhelmingly positive”. Thanks to all our awesome kids' volunteers without whom this fair would have not been possible. A few of the duties that kids' volunteers assisted with included reviewing applications, designing certificates, creating welcome kits, assigning booth numbers, organizing check-in, assisting participants in finding their booth numbers, greeting and meeting with participants, and distributing welcome kits. These are only a few of the tasks I've highlighted.
Huge Thank you to our Volunteers:
• Olivia Henaire
• Elyssa Hung
• Cheryl Chen
• Bliss Singhal
• Yatharth Chaudhary
• Neev Ansel
• Shonaya Chaudhary
• Anusha Chintalapati
• Gaurangi Gupta
• Varalika Gupta
• Kathy Aubin
We are grateful to our kind sponsors, without whom we could not have organized this event:
• Deepti Designs - It's Trendy to be Traditional School of Art,
• Stepping Stones Kids Academy
• Navita Somani - Real Estate Broker,
• Washington Telangana Association Vamshi Reddy Kancharakuntla
Last but not least, @expressions-arts approved the special grant for this fair proposal. I'd want to offer my sincere gratitude to the board members of @expressions-art SweetySaradha for believing in and supporting Youth4Us
Many thanks to Ms. Sakshi Sangani (Miss Teen India Washington 2021) and Ms. Deepti Agarwal (founder of Deepti Design School of Art), who both spoke to our young entrepreneurs and inspired them to believe in themselves.
For the young children, their parents, and everyone involved, it was undoubtedly a wonderful experience. The children were extremely imaginative and enthusiastic. Kids who had never spoken in front of an audience had the opportunity to do so at Mic while promoting their booth, their product, and the special offers they were offering to draw customers.
The only thing I can say is, "We will only grow from this experience," because we had so much fun and it was a great lesson for everyone involved.
A fantastic Dhol performance by Elem8nts team Vidyadhar Jadhav and lovely dance performance by students of Ada-Giving Full Expressions to Life Aarti Choudhary
Yummy, delicious food stand run by Preeti Sangani (owner of Annapurna). Thank you, the community has shown so much love and compassion.
Thank you City of Redmond - Parks & Recreation Angela Birney for supporting Youth4Us mission.
Few glimpses of the fair. #2023 #childrenbusinessfair #redmond #cityofredmond #FutureLeaders #CommunityGiveBack
GIVE CAMPAIGN at MICROSOFT
Sep' 2023
“TOGETHER WE CARE, TOGETHER WE GROW”
Giving Back Campaign at Microsoft to raise funds for expressions-art in partnership with Zoya's Rainbow Touch
Kids worked together to paint mini-canvases with their imagination for seniors at memory care unit. These canvases will be donated during holidays.
The Giving Back Movement- Environmentalism
Oct' 2023
The GivingBack Movement !
100s of recycled crayons created in various shapes by Youth4us Ambassadors and were donated to kids in @All in 4 autism 5k/10k at City of Bellevue, Washington - Government
The event is done in collaboration with Slalom Emily Lukken
Thank you to Youth Service America and The Hershey Company for generous grant!
Thank you to BJ's Restaurant, Redmond, Washington State for supporting and bringing change!
Thank you to the Lynne Robinson, Mayor, City of Bellevue for supporting and appreciating!
Another service project inprogress in collaboration with Chestnut Hill Academy where we practice GENEROSITY while doing community project through donating books and decorating bookmarks and writing cards with compassionate message. 50+ kids participated in the community project. Each kid was proud of themselves and willingly volunteered their time to help and asked so many curious questions about the Mary’s place, why we are doing and what willl happen after that… this curiosity is important which means they are ready to grow and learn
All donations will go to support Mary's Place a local non-profit which for kids in the foster care system.
#communitygiving #youth4Us #practicegenerosity #bookdrive #futureleaders
Nov' 2023
LITERACY-BOOKAID DRIVE
SNACK PACK PROJECT
Dec 2023
We are grateful to Deepti Designs for donating the snacks for a great cause and to all 25 kids who came and volunteered their time to help make 150 snack packs for those who are experiencing hardship in our community.
We also practiced the strength “Unity” - doing something different "out of our comfort zone" that helps strengthen the team effort. It took 15 mins to make 150 snack packs. This was only possible when we (kids) divide and conquer. When we divide and conquer, difficult problem can be solved easily.
After 150 Snack Packs were created, we decided our community service to end with a reflection. During this time kids, reflected as a group, as an individual and shared the service they did, how they felt, and gave themselves Pat on their back and how they can continue be of service to others.
The snack packs were donated to Mary's Place in bellevue.
A huge thank to all kids who supported the project.
