Written and compiled by Madeline Langdon

The fourth annual Service Fair was held in November. The presenters shared the creative and innovative ways that they serve their local and international communities. Below is a summary of each presentation and contact information for anyone interested in getting involved in the service projects.

Thyra Altunin: Thyra’s goal is to “expose younger children to classical music and literature.” She does volunteer work at her local library, and at a classical music festival. Classical music and literature, Thrya states, is important for the stimulation of the minds of children. Exposure to classical music and literature inspires creativity.

Aditi Patil: Aditi serves her community by volunteering “at an underprivileged middle school.” She volunteers at Starflower Experiences, an organization dedicated to helping people appreciate natural systems and the environment. Specifically, Aditi supervises events with activities such as maintaining vegetable gardens, running a recycling program, and teaching children about the dangers of household products, such as hand sanitizer. She also helps with local fundraisers to raise money and awareness. Aditi states that the best way to get involved is to raise awareness about the environment in your area. You can contact Aditi at her email, aditipatil0324@gmail.com or through her Skype, writergirl240.

Ms. Tock: Ms. Tock does volunteer work at elementary schools, where she helps children to discover their interest in science. She works with the elementary school children to help them conduct scientific experiments and channel their creativity. She also assists children who may not have the support at home to enter in the science fair with instant science experiments where the materials and task are provided and completed at school.

Dr Barletta: Dr. Barletta is the on the board of directors for the East Palo Alto Boxing Club. The club invites youth to box and helps kids avoid gang and drug activity. East Palo Alto Boxing Club serves about 400 boxers, and the trainers and employees of the club are all volunteers. Dr. Barletta tracks the progress of the boxers by photographing and filming them. One of her photographs made the front cover of a German magazine entitled The Jungle. She hopes to start a youth center to give further support to the youth of East Palo Alto. Anyone interested in helping can reach Dr. Barletta via her email, lmbarletta@gmail.com

Madeline Langdon: Madeline is a co-founder of the charity Wonderland BookSavers. Wonderland BookSavers has donated over 50,000 books across the U.S. and world, and is devoted to its goal of promoting global literacy. The Wonderland BookSavers are dedicated to helping all children realize “the magical awesomeness of reading” and inspires children to give back to their communities. More information about Wonderland BookSavers can be found on their website, http://wonderlandbooksavers.com/. Madeline can be reached at her email mlangdon@ohs.stanford.edu or through her Skype maddie.langdon99

Hagan Hensley: Hagan is involved in his local astronomy club. His club meets weekly to observe stars, planets and entities in space. Hagan and his club incorporate their community and have science outreach sessions weekly where people are invited to view space using telescopes provided by the club. Hagan and his club inspire others with an interest in science and space. Anyone can do a similar project in their area by getting a telescope and finding information on the Astronomical League Website. Follow the link https://www.astroleague.org/al/general/society.html to find clubs near you.

Khadem Badiyan: Khadem and his sister established the charity Caring Cash, an organization that donates money to help impoverished people. Caring Cash’s funding is provided by donated birthday money. By forgoing a birthday gift and instead donating that money to Caring Cash, Caring Cash is able to pay for cataract surgeries and other surgeries to restore eyesight in blind people. Caring Cash is launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to be donated to organizations in India and China that are able to do blindness procedures for under $60. Khadem hopes to eventually broaden Caring Cash’s spectrum to also focus on problems regarding school, water and trees. Khadem can be contacted via his email khadem.badiyan@gmail.com

Jack Moriarty: Jack was motivated to begin raising awareness about autism by his older brother who has autism. Jack founded the organization Bring Home Blue to create a supportive atmosphere for autistic people. He hopes to spread compassion to autistic people by including them in aspects of society such as social media. Anyone interested in helping Jack in his efforts can reach him via his Twitter. His Twitter handle is @bringhomeblue

Arjun Sarup: Arjun is involved in Astitva, an organization which empowers women in India. Arjun states that women in rural India have very few rights and are, “destined for illiteracy, for life doomed of any meaning.” Astitva travels to rural villages in India to raise awareness about gender equality, and also is working to diminish female infanticide. For the festival of Diwali, Astitva encouraged socially disadvantaged women to create diyas, a special decorative candle for the celebration of Diwali. Astitva sold the diyas, and gave the money made from selling the diyas back to the women. Through different projects and initiatives, Astitva hopes to inspire disadvantaged women to become independent. To contact Arjun, you can reach him at his email arjun4@ohs.stanford.edu or his Skype arjunsarup98

Umar Ahmed Badami: Umar works with Share the Care, and is dedicated to helping patients and medical clinics in rural areas of Africa and Asia. Currently, Umar and Share the Care have been working to eradicate polio in many Muslim countries where the Taliban have discouraged people from getting the polio vaccine. Share the Care has been spreading awareness about polio through going to local communities and holding events. More information about Umar’s project can be found at http://sharethecare.yolasite.com/.

This article is provided by the Student Service Board.

Categories: Community Service Showcase, School