Sample Lesson
Reading
Every winter, Marcus noticed the same thing on his walk to school, and it always made his chest feel heavy. There were people sleeping outside in the freezing cold, huddled in doorways and on benches. Some of them didn't even have a proper blanket. It made his stomach feel tight and his mind race. He desperately wanted to help. But he was only ten years old. What, honestly, could a ten-year-old do about something so big?
For weeks he carried the worry around without telling anyone. Then one night, over dinner, it finally spilled out to his grandma. She listened to every word. Then she smiled gently and said something Marcus would never forget: “Big problems are just lots of small problems stuck together, sweetheart. You can't lift the whole thing at once. So don't try. Just pick one small piece, a piece your size, and lift that.”
Marcus thought about it hard. He couldn't build houses. He couldn't give everyone a home. But… one small piece. What piece could HE lift? He did a little research online and discovered something surprising: warm socks were one of the things homeless shelters needed most and ran out of fastest. Socks! That was small. That was his size. He could do socks.
So he got to work. He opened up the computer and made a bright, colorful poster explaining what he was collecting and why. He asked his teacher if she'd share it with the class, and she did. He set himself a goal, one that made his stomach flutter because it felt so big: one hundred pairs of socks.
At first, it was slow. A pair here, a pair there. Marcus worried it wouldn't work. But then something started to happen. His classmates told their families about it. Their families told neighbors. A local shop owner heard about the boy collecting socks and put a collection box right by her front door. And slowly, then quickly, the socks began to pile up. Fifty pairs. Then eighty. Then, unbelievably, more than two hundred pairs.
The day Marcus delivered them all to the shelter, arms full of bags, a worker there knelt down so she was eye to eye with him. “Young man,” she said, “you have no idea how much this helps. No idea.” And Marcus felt something warm spread through his whole chest.
Walking home, Marcus finally understood what his grandma had meant. He couldn't fix everything nobody can. But he COULD fix one small piece. And that one small piece, chosen with care and carried with heart, kept a lot of people warm all winter long. Sometimes the smallest piece, lifted by the right person, turns out to be bigger than anyone expected.
Podcast
In the Podcast we go deep into Blake Mycoskie's book "Start Something That Matters". Video
In the video, we explain the importance of starting a Social Impact business.
Expert Talk
In this talk that is coming soon, an expert in the field will talk about her experience running a Social Impact business.Challenge
Once the girl who is applying has seen the lesson, she will choose one of the following problems, then say why and come up with a solution. After that, she will send this info to us in a letter with her name, age, and town, to the following address. Her solution can be in the form of an essay, drawing, or poem; however, she wants nothing digital.
Beaches and ocean edges are washing away because of bigger storms and rising ocean levels.
Cutting down trees in cities to build stuff, leaving less green space for kids to play
Local farms are losing their dirt and crops because the weather is changing so fast.
Chemicals leaking into the water we drink.
Running out of places to put all our trash and plastic garbage.
Not having enough beds, blankets, and food for new families arriving from other countries.
Hard to ask for help when you don't speak the language yet
Older immigrants not knowing how to use computers, phones, or the internet for basic tasks.
Kids who move here are struggling in class while they learn English for the first time.
Immigrant families feel lonely and isolated when living far away from big communities.
Neighborhoods that only have corner stores with junk food and no real grocery stores..
Food banks are running out of food because so many families need free groceries.
Local farmers are struggling to get their fresh apples and veggies into school cafeterias.
Grandparents living all by themselves with no friends or family nearby to visit them.
Sidewalks without ramps or buildings without elevators that block people in wheelchairs.
Websites and computer apps are too tricky for people who have trouble seeing or hearing.
Mean people bullying or hurting others just because of their race, religion, or who they are.
Beach towns are super busy in the summer but lose all their jobs and money in the winter.
Local newspapers are closing down, so people don't know what's happening in their own town.
Old houses can make kids sick
Not enough shelters for people who don't have a place to live..
Old houses with bad stuff in the walls or paint, like lead or mold, that can make kids sick.
Too many family members crowded into one tiny apartment because they couldn't afford more space.
People have to sleep outside in tents on the street because they have nowhere else to go.
Daycare and babysitting cost so much that some parents can't afford to go to work.
Trains and subways (like the MBTA) are breaking down, running late, or being unsafe.
Bus and train routes are great in big cities, but terrible or missing in smaller towns.
Crazy bad traffic that makes parents stuck in cars for hours instead of being home.
Not enough safe bike lanes or sidewalk paths for kids to ride or walk to school.
Not enough places to plug in electric cars in neighborhoods where poorer families live.
Bus and subway tickets are too expensive for people who have to ride them every day.
Small country towns have zero buses, taxi apps, or rides for people who can't drive.
Some schools have way fewer books, computers, and cool programs than schools in rich towns.
Money not being shared fairly between different public school districts.
Preschools do not have enough room for every little kid to go and learn early.
Not enough fun science, coding, and math classes in under-funded schools.
Kids go to school or college on an empty stomach because there isn't enough food at home.
Not enough fun after-school programs or summer camps for kids while parents work.
Doctors and nurses not speaking the same language as their patients.
Cities full of concrete get way too hot in the summer with no trees for shade
Example of how I would do it
The problem I chose: There aren't enough shelters for people who don't have a place to live.
Why I chose this problem
I chose this problem because homelessness is something I've seen up close. In Venezuela, where part of my heart will always be, there are so many people living without a safe place to sleep, and it isn't a faraway story for me, it's people I've walked past, people who could have been my neighbors. Every time I see someone without a home, I think about how a single safe room, even for one night, could change how their whole week feels. This problem doesn't feel like a topic to me. It feels personal. That's why I want to be the one to work on it.
What I want to build
My solution is a nonprofit that connects people who need a place to stay with people who have a spare room they aren't using, even if it's only for one night at a time.
Here's how it would work:
We run background checks on the guests first, so hosts feel safe opening their doors.
We partner with Airbnb so that anyone with a free room can offer it, one night at a time.
Airbnb pays the host for giving up their room, so hosting someone in need isn't a sacrifice, it's supported.
We partner with local cleaners to make sure every room is cleaned before the guest leaves, so the host gets their space back exactly the way they left it.
