GoFundMe is truly a great website that has helped countless people around the world in different endeavors, whether it be business ventures, philanthropic projects, or personal needs. In many of the articles that True Activist covers, the people featured have been able to fund their work by raising money on the platform to help reach their goals.
Whether you’re looking to fund a trip around the world, help someone across the country with their dog’s vet bills, or just want to donate to a local organization, GoFundMe gives and takes in equal measure and likely has a campaign going on at this very moment that you might be interested in. For the four girls below, they saw a need for something and used the crowdfunding site to make it happen and are being commended for their efforts.
4. Free Feminine Products At A High School
In the U.S., the majority of states impose taxes on feminine hygiene products and they are viewed as “luxury” items, so it’s no surprise that at Erin Bailey’s high school, Columbus Signature Academy, doesn’t readily provide products to students on their period.
In order to get a tampon or pad, female students must make their way to the nurse’s office and pay a fee. Sometimes students don’t have any money on them or are too embarrassed to come in and ask, leaving them uncomfortable for the whole day or week at the very least.
Bailey decided to change this and started buying feminine products with her own money and providing them for free in a container. She used her own money for the first two years before starting a GoFundMe page to help her fund the operation.
“I’m asking for donations to help keep this up and running for students who during their periods, rely on this service,” writes Erin. “Anything helps! The money raised from this will go towards purchasing feminine products so that they will be free and available to the girls in our school!”
She has raised $2,300 of her $5,000 goal so far and is hoping to continue this service for years to come.
3. Send 100 Girls To See Hidden Figures
A 13-year-old girl, Taylor Richardson, was absolutely floored and inspired after being able to attend a special screening of Hidden Figures at the White House. She was able to hear Michelle Obama speak about the importance of education and wanted to give back locally to her community by helping to inspire other girls. As a girl of color, it was important to her that other girls know that they can dream big and achieve things that were at once unimaginable.
She created a GoFundMe page to raise $2,000 to take 100 girls to see Hidden Figures, order them a snack pack, and hopefully provide each girl with the book that the movie was based on (which was, of course, based on real events). She surpassed that goal by a lot and was able to send 800 girls along the East Coast to see the movie and is using the extra money to send two local youths to space camp.
It might have started out as a small gesture, but her humble idea has impacted and inspired tons of girls to never limit themselves.
2. Liddy’s Chemo Kit Project
Lidiana “Liddy” Todoroff, a 13-year-old girl from Oregon, has been by her mother’s side several times while her mom has undergone chemo treatments for colon cancer. Besides the situation already being a terrible one, Liddy said it’s made worse when watching her mom try to get comfortable or keep herself entertained for 6 hours.
“You’re actually hooked up to a machine, so it’s really hard to walk around or get around when you’re sitting in a chair anywhere from four to six hours,” said her mother, Gina.
After witnessing this, she first wanted to raise money for cancer patients to help them in some way. Then she got the idea to put together a “chemo kit” to provide patients with items to keep them busy during their chemo sessions and make them feel loved. Her kits usually include a blanket, pillow, hand sanitizer, gloves, a journal, planner, lotion, socks, and snacks. She collaborated with her mom to determine what would work best in the kits and went from there.
At first, she employed a chamber ensemble made up of students at her school since she is a musician and they would perform music to raise money for the kits. She then made a GoFundMe page because the kits are pricey to put together and has already exceeded her goal by several hundred dollars.
1. Help Khloe Make A Difference
Khloe, a 9-year-old girl from Southern California, and her mother and grandmother started an organization called Khloe Kares that puts together homemade bags for homeless people filled with essential items like socks, deodorant, feminine products, and soap.
Though the trio initially started with making the bags and putting together items, Khloe wanted to do more, so she set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for a toy drive for homeless children and finally register as a 501c3 charity.
She has since raised $17,000, which funded the toy drive, helped further the handbag distribution which recently surpassed 400 bags, and aided in their filing to become a registered charity. As a resident of LA county, this young girl sees firsthand the effects of homelessness and how many people are impacted by it and wanted to help.
It’s girls like these that are changing the world, one crowdfunding campaign at a time. What has started off as simple ideas have either become so much more or are an indicator of the passion and drive that will go into every philanthropic project they pursue as they grow older.
What are your thoughts on these campaigns? Please share, like, and comment on this article!
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