Emily Bhatnagar has always loved reading. “Growing up, I was really shy, so I always turned to books,” she said. “They became my best friends when I didn’t have one.”

In 2019, when Emily was in her second year of high school, her dad suffered from cancer. The news was difficult for the family. Books became an even bigger comfort, and she started thinking about families in similar situations. When her father recovered, she came up with a plan to help others. “The idea came from the fact that there were kids who were facing the same problem,” she said.

Then, Emily started the book drive in her hometown, Gaithersburg, Maryland. The goal was to collect books and give them to kids being treated for cancer in local hospitals. Her father was not surprised by this plan. “She always wants to do things for the neighborhood,” he said. Since the start of the book drive, which she calls For Love & Buttercup, Emily has collected more than 10,000 books.

Emily had no idea how much attention her work would get. She started by posting on social media, asking people in her area to donate. “I was expecting maybe two or three neighbors to do it,” she said. “But it ended up blowing up,” especially when newspapers began reporting it.

The Children’s Inn is one of the places where Emily has donated books. “Donations like Emily’s share a piece of the world with kids and families that they may not experience,” said its director, Aisha Campbell. Emily continues to run the book drive with her parents’ help. She hopes to one day make it reach more kids. The memory of the first time she visited children who’d received her books sticks with her. “It was the best day of my life,” she said. “I realized I wanted to do this type of work forever.”

My name is Jacob Cramer. I am a freshman at Orange High School.

In 2013, I founded an organization called Love For The Elderly. Many elderly people have no one to care for them, no one to look after them, no one to love them. The elderly have paved the pathway of success for my generation. They deserve to be shown appreciation and kindness but are often ignored.

I am sure all of you have someone in your heart who has been at a nursing home. Think of them while I say this: they deserve the best and nothing but the best. The elderly are such an outstanding group, and their wisdom can most definitely be learned from. This idea of appreciating the elderly reverberated (回响) inside my head until finally, I decided it was time to step up and make a difference.

My passion for writing led me to create an organization, where people from all across the globe send letters filled with kindness and joy, from Iceland, Romania, Finland, Australia, and more. I then send these letters to senior centers, nursing homes, and retirement communities located all across the country. To this date, I have collected over 1000 letters, and the response I have received has been truly unbelievable.

This past month, I had the opportunity (机会) to receive $100 from KindSpring through their monthly kindness contest to help my organization. This money has been of great help. We do not receive much money, and so it helped to pay for many costs, including postage and envelopes. This gesture of kindness has been very beneficial to my organization, and I could not be more appreciative. Thank you so much to KindSpring for this amazing opportunity. If any of you would like to get involved in my organization, please visit lovefortheelderly.org.

Looking around her childhood neighborhood, Shanta Mack, human resources associate with Entergy couldn’t help but share, “As a teenager, I never saw neighbors or local organizations come to my community to volunteer, but when the request was put out to revitalize (复活) the same streets that I grew up on, I jumped at the opportunity.”

This year, Entergy employee volunteers celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a series of volunteer events across the New Orleans Metro Area over a three-day weekend. Mack and her sixteen-year-old daughter Aalaina joined the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and other community members to help develop an urban garden and refresh a local playground in the Desire Area.

Mack quickly realized that her old neck of the woods, which was once full of life, did not look the same as it did when she rode bikes with her friends to the local candy store. It was important for her to not only show her college-bound daughter where she grew up, but she also wanted her daughter to experience what it felt like to give back, especially to her own community. “Volunteering with my daughter allows us to bond (联系), but I also want her to take these opportunities to invest (投资) her time when she can, meet new people, learn new skills and gain volunteer hours for her college applications, ”said Mack.

The mother and daughter worked hand-in-hand with other volunteers to build a picnic table for locals to have lunch or rest and a stage for local artists to perform during community festivities.

“The weekend was the perfect opportunity to volunteer and follow Dr. King — and others who have made sacrifices to bring equality and diversity to our communities. I was happy to get out to represent Entergy for MLK Day and will continue to do my part in serving our community, ”said Mack.