Amelia: Young Philanthropist

Fresh-Start

Amelia is an eighth-grader on a mission! Amelia was only in the sixth grade when she started her own nonprofit, Fresh Start! This all came about when she participated in Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a program at her school.

Safe Space for Foster kids

Amelia chose to serve foster children specifically through Fresh-Start. Amelia first partnered with the Foundation for Foster Children in order to update a safe space room through our Safe Space and Supplies program. A safe space is an area in which children are brought to stay immediately following the removal from their parents and until they go to their first foster home. The Foundation has two of these rooms, located at DCF offices.

Amelia fundraised in order to provide many updates to the older safe space, including a new futon, large area rug, play kitchen, train table, wall decals, new toys, and more! She installed it with the help of her family and made the space even more welcoming and warm.

Amelia didn’t stop there though! Most recently, Amelia raised an additional $950 for Fresh-Start through creative fundraising efforts! The funds are being converted into Visa gift cards that will be used as educational incentives for children in our Education+ program. Amelia is also getting her friends together to make handmade education encouragement cards to be provided along with the incentives. Featuring phrases such as, “You Rock!”, “We Knew You Could Do It!”, and “Congrats”, the cards and gift cards are sure to be the highlight of a child’s day and will praise them for their educational accomplishments! They will also be reminded that we are paying attention to their progress and have not forgotten their hard work!

With fresh-start, Amelia has successfully shown that age does not have to be a barrier to accomplishing great things! Thank you, Amelia, for being a young philanthropist, advocate, and encourager for children in foster care!