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At the age of 4, Vincent Forte truly became a hero along with his brother Dominic when their baby brother was born on 6/19/2005. Their brother Tony was born with a debilitating intestinal disease known as Total Colonic Hirschsprung's Disease. That moment Tony truly changed the lives of our family,but more importantly for Vinny and Dominic. At those early years, both Vinny & Dominic never felt slighted that Tony became and had to be a priority, Tony had many lengthy admissions that required both myself and their father.

Vinny and Dominic had given up a lot for Tony's survival including transitioning from public school to cyber school due to the fact that Tony is awaiting a life-saving transplant. Tony is now 6 yrs old and is awaiting a stomach/full intestinal and liver transplant.

At the age of 9 when Tony was listed for his transplant,the team of Dr's at the UPMC Children's Hospital indicated that we will have to raise close to $2 million dollars for Tony's recuperation and his future. When Vinny heard that, he put his ideas into motion. He started by creating a website.

County: Lancaster Pennsylvania, USA 

School: Unspecified

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Sam Klein recently completed a service project for the Ronald Mcdonald House. He set up shop outside the store from 9-6pm distributing wish lists for incoming shoppers. In sum, donations totalled two full van loads of dry goods and cleaning supplies that we delivered to the House. Sam also received cash donations totalling $205. I was overwhelmed to see how a child's days worth of charitable efforts filled Ronald Mcdonalds receiving area. I imagine the supplies easily totalled a couple thousands of dollars! Sam was elated.

Sam also started a tab top initiative at his middle school in the fall of 2011 to collect tab tops for RMH. He was on a go green segment on channel 4 news last fall for this initiative because his interest in recycling for charitable efforts spanned a long interest in recycling that started with his love for garbage trucks at the age of four. Back then, Sam learned more about recycling after several visits to Onyx Waste when he was in kindergarten. The employees and human resources were so taken with Sam's enthusiasm that they threw him a birthday party at Onyx headquarters and following this "feel good"event, the post dispatch wrote a human interest story on him in the paper.

County: St Louis Missouri, USA 

School: Parkway Northeast Middle School

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Lilly has always been involved in her community and supportive of causes she believes in. When her father passed away from cystic fibrosis in 2009, Lilly became dedicated to volunteering for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in his memory. She has raised thousands of dollars, become a spokesperson for the organization in Louisiana, helped organize events and was recently named the Teen Advocate for Louisiana and will visit Washington, DC in June to speak with Congressmen about making life better for people with CF.

Lilly received the Kohl's Cares Scholarship for her work with the CFF. Lilly also volunteers her time with the local Women's Shelter, working with children in the shelter's afterschool program. In addition to giving talks on various topics, including bullying, Lilly held her birthday party in February at the shelter so her friends could see how much fun volunteering there could be. Instead of gifts, she asked her friends to bring board games for the kids in the program. Lilly was recently named one of the shelter's Volunteers of the Year. She also has volunteered serving meals with the local soup kitchen, has been a Salvation Army bell ringer and volunteered with the local animal shelter.

Lilly also believes in encouraging others to get involved with the community. She started her own web show called Community Chat with Lilly Guilbeau in which she interviews representatives from various organizations or programs and encourages kids to get involved. This lead to our local television station asking Lilly to serve as a community blogger for the station's website. Lilly now writes about things going on in the community, school, etc. so everyone can see how wonderful our community is.

County: Lake Charles Louisiana, USA 

School: Nelson Elementary

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At age 7, Hannah Newton felt that she wanted to do something to help those in the community. She didn't have a lot but she did have a heart. She took the resources she had and went to classrooms around the area and taught kids how to communicate encouragement to those in need. She then had kids make cards for the homeless and elderly with letters of encouragement inside. She was able to go into enough classes to deliver over 800 cards to local charities catering to those in need.

Her vision expanded into the Children Who Care Club where the club does a monthly service project for those in need. Her club has been such a success. There are 8 more clubs starting up in fall.

At 8 years old now, she is just getting started on her lifetime of giving back.

County: Edmonds Washington, USA 

School: Unspecified

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Labella Kreiner is a member of the T.M.S. Leo Club, which is an affiliate of the Thurmont Lions Club.

Labella continues to amaze me by her service to others. She has raised money for St.Jude Children's Research Hospital, American Heart Association, and a memorial Scholarship Fund.

Labella continues to be a role model in her school and community.

County: Frederick Maryland, USA 

School: Thurmont Middle School

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Three years ago, Aaron Maresky was diagnosed with Crohns disease at the tender age of seven. Without his life saving medication, he would have suffered tremendously. The medication that Aaron needs costs $4000 a month, and luckily we have insurance.

Aaron realized that many children were not as fortunate as him, so he decided to start a charity that raises money to financially assist families with chronically ill children. In the 2 short years of Aaron's Apple existence, over $150,000 has been raised through community events, fundraisers and our annual Caring to the Core Gala.

Aaron's Apple has helped many children suffering from Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and other chronic Pediatric diseases.

Location: Thornhill Ontario, Canada 

School: Unspecified

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Karly Krasnow is the co-founder, along with her brother Jeffrey Krasnow, of their own non-profit organization called Balls Go Round. Karly took action when she witnessed many high-end country clubs throwing away dead tennis balls. She and her brother realized that if they simply recycled the balls and used them to their extent, it would help the community in many ways.

Balls Go Round has so far donated them to nursing homes (they cut them in half and put them on the wheelchairs/walkers), needy schools in Harlem (for P.E. classes), and tennis facilities that can't afford more tennis balls. Karly and her brother have been doing this for 5 years so far and have donated thousands of tennis balls.

County: Vero Beach Florida, USA 

School: Vero Beach High School

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My daughter Mikaela Law is a fifteen year old sophomore. She has struggled with depression throughout her teen years. Mikaela has worked very hard to find her way back to happy, and has made it her life mission to help and encourage other teens that are struggling with depression too.

Mikaela believes that she is here to help others and speaks to kids and groups about her experiences and struggles. Mikaela travels to schools, youth conferences, and Youth Events sharing her story with others, spreading the message that " It does get better". It is amazing how after every event a teen will come up and thank her for sharing her story, and how much it helped them realize they are not alone. Depression will be a lifelong battle for Mikaela, but I find her work in the community is a form of therapy for her. I think by sharing her feelings it helps make it not so "taboo" and she realizes that there is a huge need for her and others to continue to reach out to teens and young adults.

County: James City Virginia, USA 

School: Warhill High School

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Zachary Certner is the co-founder of a non-profit organization SNAP (Special Needs Athletic and Awareness Programs) that provides social and recreational programs five days a week for over 150 special needs families with little or no access to recreational or peer related activities. These programs utilize peer mentors that provide one on one relationship with these children. SNAP has filled a number of really significant voids in our community of Morristown, NJ. As the parent of special need child, I have extensive personal experience with Zach and the programming his organization, SNAP, provides to our school district, as well as those in neighboring towns.

Since its earliest days, SNAP has created a regular schedule of sports clinics that have given my son and other special needs children in our area the chance to learn about and play different sports in a safe environment. SNAP is unique in that it’s an organization that focuses on “Kids Helping Kids”. In practice what this means is that the special needs children are paired up with youth mentors who work with them, teaching them teamwork, how the games are played, and giving them a social experience like typical children are blessed with everyday. It is a framework that gives to our community in so many ways. The special needs children benefit because they are the stars of the sports clinics with all of the focus on giving them a wonderful experience and teaching them about social interactions and sports.

County: Morristown New Jersey, USA 

School: Morristown High School

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For Max and Lucie Byrd's second birthday they declined gifts for themselves and instead asked for donations for Children In Need, Inc. What an amazing assortment of donations was given: socks, clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, deodorant, crayons, pencils, underwear, toothpaste, books and money.

Together with our guests, the monetary donation we were able to give was $400!! Children In Need, Inc. is an incredible organization our county has that benefits the children in schools that are Free And Reduced Meal eligible (FARM). The FARM students in our public schools are at poverty level - this organization helps to provide necessities through volunteers and donations.

Max and Lucie, along with their mama, were happy to deliver their donations in person to Miss Anne Martin, the Executive Director. What better way to celebrate the pure joy Max and Lucie have in life, than by spreading happiness to other little ones and their families.

County: Washington Maryland, USA 

School: Unspecified

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Grace Van Gilder was part of a group that went on a mission's trip to the Dominican Republic, through her church, Otterbein, in Waynesboro, PA.

While on the trip the last week of February 2012, she and her group distributed over 1,200 shoeboxes to needy children in the D.R. The shoeboxes were brought by cargo ships from the North Carolina-based company, "Operation Christmas Child". The shoeboxes were full of items such as school supplies, books, toys, candy, and hygiene products.

Grace is an active member of her church youth group and looks forward to many missions trips in the future.

County: Franklin Pennsylvania, USA 

School: Waynesboro Area High School

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Seri and Arielle Joselson are sophomores in high school. They knew very early on that they wanted to make a difference in the world. Meeting as freshmen in high school, they realized they shared a common interest, to seek a cure for pediatric cancer. They decided to create a charity that everyone could be a part of, especially during these hard economic times. They made their dream a reality. They co-founded the charity called "A Dollar Campaign". All they ask of there donors is one dollar. This way everyone can be a part of finding the cure.

If every person donated one dollar- imagine!

Seri and Arielle will continue their efforts until a cure has been found.

County: Suffern New York, USA 

School: Solomon Schecter Of Westchester

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I am the director of Happy Whiskers Animal Assistance, Inc., a non-profit animal rescue in Jefferson County, WV. I wanted to take a minute to share this story with you. Recently we were contacted by Terri DeLloyd who said that her son Tim DeLloyd was having his 10th birthday party and had sent out invitations to all his friends asking that instead of giving him presents, they bring donations for Happy Whiskers. Thanks to Tim and his friends, we received cat food, dog and cat treats, cat and dog toys, cat litter pans, cat litter scoops, and some monetary donations as well!! None of us could believe that a young man would be so selfless as to give up presents on his own birthday!!! We were all inspired by Tim's act of generosity and we are hoping that you could feature him on your website because he is our hero!!

County: Middletown Maryland, USA 

School: Unspecified

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Timmy "Mini" Tyrrell decided in 2010 (age 6) that he wanted to help children with cancer after his friend, Ella, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. After witnessing her battle and hearing the adults discuss the hardships Ella's parents were suffering financially, Mini wanted to start raising money through his go kart racing in order to help others like Ella and her family. This idea became a reality in the fall of 2010, after Inspired Athletes came to watch Mini race at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia.

What became apparent to Inspired Athletes was Mini's compassionate nature, and his ability to not only draw his inspiration from those around him, but become a source of inspiration himself.

Mini's Mission is to Burn Rubber to Help Another. From March 2011 to date, Mini's Mission has raised over $28,000+, with Mini's Mission donations going to The Jeffrey Virostek Memorial Fund. Jeffrey Virostek lost his battle to Leukemia in 2003 at age 4.

County: Manassas Virginia, USA 

School: R.C. Haydon Elementary

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Each year Eden celebrates her birthday by recognizing and giving to those who are less fortunate. This annual tradition has enabled her to reflect on what she has, to deepen her social awareness, and to help those who can use a helping hand. When choosing her donations, she looks into local and global issues and how these affect kids of all ages. As a result, her contributions have typically been collected by kids and given to kids, making the whole experience deep and meaningful to all those who are involved.

Over the years she has donated toys to kids under the care of the Children's Aide Society, clothes to kids living at the Women's Shelter, books for kids at the Children's Hospital, hats for kids undergoing radiation and Chemotherapy, school supplies for impoverished kids in Cuba, and teddy bears for kids in Haiti who lost everything in the earthquake.

This year, to celebrate Eden’s 8th birthday, she has requested to collect Art Supplies for kids living on reserves around Ontario. This was largely due to her finding out that kids in our vicinity live without proper running water, shelter, or school buildings - and since Art has always made her feel calm inside, she thought it was fitting to extend the inner calmness over to those who might not have as much.

Location: London Ontario, Canada 

School: Unspecified

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