Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient Matthew, a 14-year-old who founded New Kicks for Kids in January 2015 to provide new shoes for kids living in homeless shelters.

1. What inspired you to start New Kicks for Kids?

I volunteer regularly with my church chamber orchestra by playing music at nursing homes, hospitals and homeless shelters. Once we were playing at a homeless shelter lunch and I saw several people crying….

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Laya, a 13-year-old who teaches first grade students about homelessness. In addition to the educational component, she also organizes activities to provide assistance to those experiencing homelessness.

1. What inspired you to start this project?

My project, All Hands In Baltimore, has two distinct purposes: not only do I make projects to help the less fortunate, I also get the opportunity to teach and guide first graders and fill them with the same eagerness to help others that I experienced in first grade….

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Corinne, a 15-year-old founder of Warm Winters. Warm Winters works with ski resorts in eight states collecting unclaimed warm clothing and accessories to be donated to people experiencing homeless. 

1. What inspired you to start Warm Winters?

When I was 11 years old, I noticed a homeless man on the streets near my house dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans on a bitterly cold winter’s day….

 CHICAGO, IL. December 18, 2015 – Redwood Logistics (‘Redwood’), a strategically-integrated logistics provider, has partnered with Walgreens, a Redwood Multimodal customer, to organize a drive to collect and donate kits containing personal essentials to the Lincoln Park Community Shelter (‘LPCS’). The LPCS works to help out the homeless around Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Maysem Alsaidi, a Redwood employee, began the effort back in mid-November by contacting LPCS about donating clothing. The shelter had more of a need for food, as Thanksgiving was near, so she held an office drive that collected nearly $300 which was used to purchase over two full carts of groceries for donation….

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Joe, a mentor and tutor who organized the creation of a new library at the Carver Community Center.

1. What inspired you to volunteer at the Carver Community Center?

As a sophomore, I decided to participate in the community service program at my school. Ever since, I have absolutely loved mentoring and tutoring our young scholars in the program;…

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Riley, a 15-year-old who started Rainbow Pack, an organization that distributes new backpacks full of homework supplies to students throughout the Los Angeles area. 

1.  How did you become involved with Rainbow Pack?

I am the founder of Rainbow Pack. I started Rainbow Pack 5 years ago, at 10 years old, after a school field trip to a local elementary school….

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Katie, who recruits and trains high school trumpet players to play Taps at military veterans funerals.

1. How did you become involved with Youth Trumpet & Taps Corps?

I founded the Youth Trumpet & Taps Corps for my Girl Scout Gold Award project in 2014. Since earning my Gold Award, I decided to take the project nationwide and get high school trumpet players across the country to join me in honoring our nation’s heroes….

On Friday, November 13, Karma for Cara held “A Night of Inspiration,” a small fundraiser for family and friends, including some of Karma for Cara’s biggest supporters.

As the sun set on the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, the guests arrived for a cocktail hour in an atmosphere full of love and warmth. The main attraction, however, took place once guests were seated for dinner.

We invited two young musicians from From the Top, an organization fostering amazing classical music talent and community service, to play and three of our youth microgrant recipients to speak….

Karma for Cara Microgrants help fund exceptional service projects led by youth 18 and under working to better their communities. Read about our microgrant recipient, Zach, a 10-year-old who started Lidz for Kidz, which donates hats and puts on movie and pizza parties for children undergoing cancer treatment at a variety of children’s hospitals.

1. What inspired you to start Lidz for Kidz?

I saw a couple of St. Jude’s commercials on TV and they made me feel bad for the kids who were battling cancer.  …

On October 28, Eric and Jill Becker presented two Excellence in Nursing Awards to deserving individuals.

This year’s recipients were Sharon Thompson, RN, BSN, OCN and Cynae Alonia Johnson, CRNP, PhD nursing candidate. Both are nurses for the Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service at Johns Hopkins.

Sharon has worked as an oncology nurse at Hopkins for more than 25 years, with most of that time as the head chemotherapy nurse in the Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service. She is loved by her patients and peers alike….