Good People Doing Good Things — The Young Ones

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Good people doing good things, Social commentary

Sometimes I like to focus on young people for my Wednesday ‘good people’ feature, for they are, after all, our foreseeable future.  Today I have two stories that I think will warm your hearts.

Tejas Kannan is 16 years old and lives in Missouri City, Texas, though he is originally from India.  Tejas was paying close attention when he learned in school about the “3 Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and how reducing what we buy, reusing items for new purposes, and recycling items when they can no longer be used can positively impact the environment.

One day while reading about Bellandur Lake—a large body of water near his hometown of Bengaluru, India—Tejas was unsettled by what he learned. Bellandur Lake, which was a major source of water for drinking and agriculture, is now incredibly polluted due to untreated sewage water and dumping of chemicals and industrial waste from nearby factories. Recognizing the devastating impact chemical pollution has on those who relied on Bellandur Lake, the general dangers of chemical pollution, and how environmental stewardship is not exclusive to one community, Tejas created Product Insight.

Product Insight is an online platform where Tejas educates both youth and adults about chemicals, especially those used in the production of plastics, as the material has become integral for people around the world. In his platform, Tejas shares the results of his extensive research into over 200 toxic and nontoxic chemicals that exist in products we use daily including carrageenan, a seaweed derived nontoxic compound that’s used as a thickener in ice cream and toothpaste, and lead, which has been linked to water crises in Flint, Chicago, and Newark. His site also features blogs, news articles, and podcast episodes that provide additional information while exploring strategies that are easy for anyone to implement. Wanting to make taking action accessible to all, Tejas even created workbooks and activity sheets that can be used by schools and individuals to teach the “3 Rs” through text, games, and hands-on activities. These workbooks have already been distributed to over 3000 students in India and Tejas is collaborating with the Fort Bend Independent School District on ways they schools may be able to incorporate his work into their curriculum.

Outside of Product Insight, Tejas is also working to promote sustainable consumption by hosting clothing and toy drives, giving community members the opportunity to reuse or regift items and encouraging them to make conscious decisions on what they consume and dispose of. He also works to create eco-friendly products that he and his family use or that he can give away as gifts like soap or bio-enzyme cleaners. Through his efforts, Tejas hopes to promote the understanding that by changing things in our daily lives, we can be stewards and protectors of nature, and that while individual actions may not make monumental impacts, collective action can and is possible, even with small steps.

I want you to meet three kids who had their lives disrupted when the pandemic hit back in 2020 but turned disruption into something very positive.  They are Crosby To, age 12, Kaely Wang and Aaron Fong, both age 13.  Prior to 2020, all three had been active volunteers in their community, and it was hard for them to sit at home.

However, one day Crosby was given the opportunity to volunteer with his brother’s school, making lunches for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and an idea was born. Partnering with his classmates Kaely and Aaron, the trio realized that they could still support people in their community while volunteering, in part, from home. In late 2020, Crosby, Kaely, and Aaron created The Lunchmakers, a nonprofit that provides bagged lunches to support people who are homeless.

Each month, youth leaders from The Lunchmakers’ eight chapters will recruit volunteers, collect donations or purchase supplies, then make bagged lunches that are given to a local organization that works directly with people who are homeless. Student volunteers are given guidelines as to what should be included in each bag—a sandwich, a sweet and a savory snack, a piece of fruit, a bottle of water, and a napkin—as well as sanitation instructions, and are encouraged to include a personal touch, like a note for the recipient.

What started as a group of middle school students wanting to give back has quickly evolved; over the past three years, the founding trio and their team of nearly 500 volunteers have partnered with six organizations to make and deliver over 10,000 lunches! They have also expanded their reach outside of California’s Bay Area with chapters in Los Angeles and Massachusetts, including a K-8 school that has integrated volunteering with The Lunchmakers into their service-learning curriculum. For Crosby, Kaely, and Aaron, The Lunchmakers is a way to show others that helping your community is easy, accessible, and has a real-life impact. All you need is an idea and the determination to take action.

My hat is off to these young people who aren’t wasting any time, but are already making a difference, making the world a little bit better place for us all and for future generations.

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37 thoughts on “Good People Doing Good Things — The Young Ones”

  2. I’ve received one or two of those magical brown bags, and I can tell you that one of those given with a genuine smile can bring light into what might otherwise be a very dark day.

    I really enjoy also your multicultural slant on these Good People tributes. Definitely time to mix it up!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Pingback: Good People Doing Good Things — The Young Ones | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  11. This is the future. This is why I am not an optimist but a realist. We should pay children a little more attention.
    Isaiah 11:6
    “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
    The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
    The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
    And a little child shall lead them.

    Liked by 5 people

      • The Kalahari San lived in peace for more than 42000 years. American history makes them seem like shrewd businessman $26 for Long Island but the Dutch are going to have some explaining to do at judgement.

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          • I’ve only read one of his works The Bridges at Toko-Ri from my grandfather’s library. It is my personal belief that, though rocky, our current path is toward a peaceful egalitarian society modernised and modeled on the Kalahari San. Evolution is not just a DNA thing.

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            • There’s evidence that the Japanese and Egyptian societies created, very early, thousands of years of peaceful cooperative stability as well, and then there are the pre Hindu Arians and Tibetans to the present day. Not to mention all manner of rising photonic brightness… You and I do agree about the nature and outcome of current upheavals. Nice to be in touch 👌

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  12. Truly amazing, how these young children already had a strong sense of social responsibilities, drives, to help make the world, a better place, if the children now can all have that, then, we will surely, have a, better world…

    Liked by 4 people

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