Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youth 18 years of age & younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Sirihaasa (16) used her award to create a Town of Normal, Illinois Time Capsule & host an accompanying event to preserve the memories and legacies of Normal citizens for 20 years. The mental health of her fellow classmates plummeted during 2020, and they had minimal resources or groups to discuss the impacts of COVID on their health. In order to move on & create a stronger and brighter future for her classmates and her town, Sirihaasa envisioned a project where everyone could cumulatively share their experiences which would in turn rebuild their town’s unity and cultivate a sense of closure.

Karma for Cara Foundation launched our inaugural podcast, Started With A Passion, on Tuesday, March 28th. The podcast’s mission is to bring young changemakers to the mic to educate and inspire listeners–young & old–to better their communities. You can listen to the first episode here.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youth 18 years of age & younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Lauren (17) from TX used her award to fund a project she calls Ag Literacy. Lauren is passionate about both literacy & agriculture: as a second grader, she struggled to be successful in school, but after an ADHD diagnosis and an intervention thanks to Literacy United, she learned that her brain just works differently than others, overcame her learning difficulties & became an avid reader. As a FFA member, Lauren learned about the role agriculture plays in our world and the importance of advocating for the future of the industry. So she combined the two passions in a project to visit all the second-grade classrooms at an elementary school in her hometown as a Guest Reader every six weeks where she shared an ag-related book with the classes and provided students with a book of their own to take home. 

Meet microgrant recipient Landon (15) from NY who created a community vegetable garden at Bay Shore United Methodist Church. The objective of the project, Soil2Salad, is to engage children & adolescents from underserved communities in gardening to raise awareness about the importance of agriculture in promoting food sustainability and food security.  

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youth 18 years of age & younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Eli (17) from TN organized the building of a new pavilion and wheelchair ramp at the McBurg Community Center. The center was built in 1906, so it was in need of repairs. Many live music events, workout classes, cooking classes, and children’s events were held at the center prior to COVID, and Eli noticed that the wheelchair ramp was rotting and uneven. In addition to repairing the ramp, he planned to build a new pavilion over the picnic tables to provide shade and shelter for children playing on the playground and parents watching the children.

Meet K4C microgrant recipient James (13) from Iowa who named his project the Wakema Creek Clean-up. James noticed a shallow creek in a park that runs through his city. Although the creek was home to small fish, sand, and rocks, it also contained garbage, dead wood & grass so long that he couldn’t even see the water. So the creek was unsafe for anyone to explore or enjoy. 

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youth 18 years of age & younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Sebastian (17) from CA applied for one of 3 charity drives at his high school, Archbishop Mitty, and his application was accepted. With the help of members of the Mitty Advocacy Project and the Latinx Student Union, Sebastian was able to provide 450+ donations of the most basic necessities to farmer workers connected with the Center for Farmworker Families. Sebastian called his project Con Bonded which translates as With Kindness.

Karma for Cara Foundation awards microgrants to youth 18 years of age & younger who spearhead exceptional service projects in their communities. Microgrant recipient Sidney (16) from Ohio is very passionate about keeping the environment safe, so she created a vermicompost program & a community garden at her school, Laurel School, and called her project Girls for the Globe. The compost created was used in the soil for the community garden. With her award, Sidney added 4 beds to the 12 existing beds in the garden which included both produce & perennials. The produce was donated to decrease food insecurity in the Cleveland area while the perennials increased biodiversity, leading to a more sustainable environment.

Meet K4C microgrant recipient Ashley (18) from MD. She and other seniors from Glen Burnie High School used her award for their capstone project which involved addressing student poverty in Anne Arundel County.  The group has a passion for helping others in their community, and their mission was to create care packages for middle school students who face challenges due to poverty, ultimately in hopes of boosting mental health. Ashley & her team targeted middle school students because “they are just beginning to understand the importance of mental health.” The team was also cognizant that middle school students are still at the age where they rely on their parents financially because they are not of legal age to work. Finally, the team chose to provide daily necessities in the middle school students’ care packages because they understood that some parents may not be able to afford those items.  Taking into consideration the age group they were supporting, the team also decided to assemble separate packages for female students to include menstruation products. Calling the project Love in a Box, the team set their goal at 100 care packages.

Meet K4C microgrant recipient Olivia (15) from North Dakota. Olivia founded the nonprofit Warm Blanket Hugs when she was diagnosed with epilepsy 🧡 During her hospital stay, she received a handmade blanket which provided warmth & security, and, from there, her mission to provide that feeling for others began. For her project, Olivia & team provided 300 blankets to families in temporary shelters in her community during the cold North Dakota winter.