My 7 year-old self in 2017 would have never imagined that volunteering with Simon Says Give - Worcester (SSG) to organize school supplies that I was forced to do by my mother would lead to helping and leading kids for the next 8 years. SSG was just starting its first year to provide middle school students across our city with those supplies, and I loved it. I knew after I stepped into that gym full of backpacks and school supplies that I wanted to continue to volunteer. I grew up In Worcester and in the Worcester Public School system I’ve witnessed first hand kids in my classes not having the supplies they needed to succeed, and that was something I wanted to help change.

In fact, I loved it so much that Simon Eber, who founded the chapter when he was in middle school, asked me to join the kid advisory board two years later, I said no. I regretted that decision every day. So much so that I wrote a letter to him about how I regretted it and would like to join the board if he would have me. When I was 12, the next opportunity came up, and I said yes. When I graduated middle school I was asked to be the kid president of SSG, and of course I accepted.

Today I am a sophomore in high school, and through these past 8 years I have assembled many of the 4,200 backpacks and binders full of supplies with Simon and hundreds of other kid volunteers. But when I learned last fall that SSG would be ending in December 2024, I immediately knew I didn’t want to stop seeing the smile on kids' faces when they received a binder and stop doing what makes me happy as well. So I have decided I would start my own thing: Give and Care: Worcester.

My goal is to raise $5,000 by April 1, 2025 to provide at least two schools and a total of 100 low income rising middle school students with all the supplies they need to succeed when the next school year comes around. The customized list of supplies will come in a kid and teacher requested a 2” Case It binder which includes a sleeve for a school-issued Chromebook. Binders will be assembled and delivered by me and other kids in Worcester as a graduation present in June.

Please help support these students! I want Give and Care (GAC) Worcester to honor the legacy of Simon Says Give - Worcester and the most important GAC in my life: Great Aunt Carol who was one of my biggest supporters and favorite people. I lost both GAC and SSG in 2024, and this is the best way to honor them both and serve the students of Worcester as well. Every dollar donated will go to the students.

THANK YOU!