Do Something October and September American Express Grant Winners!

American Express and Do Something partner to bring weekly grants of $500 to help out projects addressing different causes around the world, from different people young people all around the country. Did you recently create a sustainable community action project, program or organization or have a great idea for helping your community? If you answered "YES!", you're eligible to apply for a Do Something Grant. Read about our winners from October and September below.

Shaughnessy Fulawka, 21

Heart of the City Piano Program
Shaughnessy is the Program Director at the Heart of the City Piano Program where she works with other youth-volunteers to provide free music lessons for other students who would otherwise not receive any musical education. The program reaches many students already, but in order to expand their reach Shaghnessy is working to create a music library of piano books and learning resources that students can access on their own. She is also working to expand into more elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools to engage more youth and continue their musical education. Shaughnessy will use her grant money to purchase materials for the music library, and to purchase more resources as the program expands to more schools. Shaghnessy hopes that one day the program will be sustainable by creating a “sponsor a student” program to involve community leaders.

David Han, 19

Sugar on a Stick
David is a member of the Sugar Labs team, a not-for-profit organization that develops and distributes “Sugar,” an operating system built for elementary students by students at MIT. Sugar on a Stick is a USB loaded with the “Sugar” learning program that can be used on any computer. Because it is portable, children can use this learning system on any computer at home or at school which provides consistent education methods they can practice anywhere. This USB with the “Sugar” program, gives youth the same functionality of a $7 laptop since it is portable and consistent. Sugar on a Stick is both economical and environmentally friendly. With a Pilot program already in place, David and his organization are partnering with other schools to use this “Sugar” program.

Olga Aleshin and Sina Khavana, 23

California Cooling Initiative
Inspired by recent research on new ways to prevent global warming, Olga and Sina decided to take action in their own community to raise awareness to the simple and effective action of painting roof tops lighter colors. As U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced, just by making roads and roofs a paler color could equal the effect of taking every car in the world off the road for eleven years. This plan will keep buildings cooler and reduce energy use from air conditioning, as well as reflecting sunlight away from the Earth, reducing greenhouse gases and heat absorption. The aim of California Cooling Initiative is to reduce energy consumption, thereby greenhouse gases, by painting the roofs of private and commercial buildings cooler colors. Olga and Sina are working with local businesses to paint their roofs, and to recruit volunteers for their project. Olga will use her grant to purchase eco-friendly paint for this project.

Anna Moyer, 16

Special of the Day!
Anna is reaching out to help youth with special needs who often do not have the opportunity to develop the life skills needed to live independently. To help these youth Anna is creating a website of recipes which are composed of cues (small photos that represent a word or action), a well-accepted method for teachers and therapists to improve performance when navigating a complicated series of steps. Anna has worked with teachers and therapists in order to develop these cues, and she has also drawn on her brother’s experience with down syndrome. These adapted recipes can be used to help youth both at home, and at school to have a consistent learning method. Anna hopes that by learning the tasks of these recipes this will give special needs youth the confidence and skills to complete many other similar tasks.

Tenille Howard, 20

Mentoring Children with Incarcerated Parents
Arizona has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the US, but the children of these incarcerated individuals are often forgotten, as children are left without parents and often without guidance as a result of this incarceration. Tenille has created a where student volunteers from ASU will help to bring in young people with incarcerated parents, and to provide them with mentoring and support which may be absent with their parents gone. Tenille hopes that through her efforts youth will choose the path of education and be more inclined to avoid prison or jail. Tenille will use her grant money to provide games, coloring books and snacks for the mentoring program.

Emily Smith, 17

Take Back the Night
Emily and her student-led team are running the annual Take Back the Night Event, an awareness event to open discussions about dating violence and domestic abuse among youth. One in three teens in a relationship is abused, whether it be physical, verbal, or digital, and one of the biggest problems with dating violence is that it is often not addressed. The event focuses on opening discussion and providing a way to talk about the issues. The night will include speakers, music, food, a candle light vigil, a speak-out, and the event concludes with a march around the town center as a visual demonstration. Emily will use her grant money to purchase custom fortune cookies whose “fortunes” are facts about domestic violence.

Brendan Laws, 21

CIW Speech at the University of Texas
Brendan is working to help the conditions of tomato-farm-workers in Florida, who often work in some of the worst conditions in the country. Brendan believes that if everyone knew of these awful conditions with very little pay then people would be more conscious about what they ate and where it came from. Brendan has already worked with his school’s administration to get all-fair trade coffee vendors, and is now moving for the same guidelines to apply to tomatoes. By hosting an event and bringing in workers to speak about their experiences and these conditions, Brendan hopes to inspire thousands of students to be conscious of these everyday choices in the food they eat, and to change what they eat because of how it impacts others.

Melissa Oppenheim, 20

One-for-All
Melissa is working to leverage technology for youth who are new to computers, both within the United States as well as abroad in developing countries. One Laptop per Child, is a program that delivers inexpensive XO laptops to children in developing countries; but often times the software and knowledge to use these laptops is missing when they are distributed. One for All is creating a best-practices laptop education and integration program for teachers and their students to include training packets, and curriculum to merge existing lesson plans with laptop software. Melissa and her group will use this to seamlessly integrate the XO into classrooms so that it can be more effective and used to its fullest potential. After testing the program as a pilot in Boston this fall, One for All will implement this model in Cuzco, Peru. Melissa will use her grant to purchase a laptop to train new volunteers on this software so they can then become tutors to use this program around the world.