The highlight of 2020 for Karma for Cara Foundation occurred Friday, December 4 when we hosted our first virtual #InspiredToServe Youth Summit. Nine youth presented 6 microgrant projects to the audience & engaged in Q&A.

Meet K4C microgrant recipient Shanysa (18) from Riverhead, NY. As Head Junior Volunteer at The Butterfly Effect, a nonprofit that empowers girls living in underserved communities, Shanysa used her award to organize a community garden that stocks healthy, free veggies for food pantries.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youths 18 years of age and younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Ellie (5) from Kapaa, HI and classmates used her award to create a bountiful school garden filled with fruits and vegetables, flowers and greenery & support the local community in need with organic fresh fruits and vegetables.

Meet microgrant recipient Mikaela (16) from Colorado. During the pandemic, she felt helpless staying at home & wanted to do something to help those who are more susceptible to the virus. So she decided to make and donate masks for an indefinite period of time and record her progress on a Facebook page.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youths 18 years of age and younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Agha (16) from Ballwin, MO– founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Literacy Initative–and his team take action on issues that focus on youth across the nation. Since 2017, they’ve involved over 600 volunteers across the US in their efforts to address needs of underserved young students.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youths 18 years of age and younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Jessica (16) from Hacienda Heights, CA & other students from a robotics team at Wilson High School led a project called Level Up. Passionate about encouraging underrepresented communities to explore the field of STEM, the Level Up team worked with Sunset Elementary Orthopedic Handicapped School, a local elementary school committed to serving underserved youth. With 92 percent of the school considered to be socioeconomically disadvantaged, the students do not have many opportunities to be exposed to STEM. For the outreach event, Sunset students interested in STEM had the opportunity to build robots using Lego parts and put together a 3D printed claw assembly. 

Meet 17 year old microgrant recipient Ashna from Austin, TX. Her project, Learn on Your Terms, is inspired by a passion for combating educational disparity. Through her own experience in public education, she was exposed to the gap in educational quality between students from higher and lower income neighborhoods, and through her research, she knows that the disparity can affect job opportunities and future socioeconomic status of the students in low income communities. Learn On Your Terms is a series of divergent elective courses offered to elementary and middle school students through their local library branch that she hopes will empower students to engage in an educational space they are passionate about and comfortable in.

Meet microgrant recipient McKenzie (14) from Jackson, MS. During summers and throughout the school year, she facilitates science workshops at locations such as public libraries, Boys and Girls Clubs, Salvation Army Camps, daycares, church camps and after school programs to spread the love of science and show kids how much fun learning about the world around them can be. The workshops involve fun, hands-on experiments that kids don’t experience in their school classrooms & represent different STEM concepts.

Meet K4C microgrant recipient Jason (15) from Boulder, CO. Jason & the Fairview High School Rotary Interact Club, a student-led club undertaking monthly service projects and fundraising which benefits their community, focused on assisting the homeless in this project. During the cold winter months, they provided blankets & pillows decorated with motivational messages to the homeless community to reduce discomfort & provide warmth.  The club also prepared nutritious meals & baked treats which they dispensed to the homeless.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youths 18 years of age and younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Christopher (17) from NC used his award to transform a vacant lot in the middle of East Kinston, a historically impoverished & disadvantaged neighborhood, into a neighborhood fruit park. One block over, Kinston Teens, Christopher’s nonprofit youth-led organization, has already transformed a vacant lot into a flower garden.