Rising sophomore launches two service projects

Aruj (right) has created a social entrepreneurship project that aims to feed homeless people.

Talk about an inspiring young man. Aruj, a rising 10th grader, is working on two projects that are already making a difference in the world. One helps homeless people and restaurants, while the other offers college counseling to high schoolers who can’t afford it.

Dream Donations provides food to homeless people in a clever way: Aruj and his partner in this project (a student at Reagan HS) have arranged with restaurants to create special low-cost meals that could be delivered to homeless people. So people who donate to this project through a GoFundMe page are paying for the meals, which helps the restaurants, while feeding people who might otherwise not get a meal.

Recently, the founders of this project were interviewed by KSAT-TV and a piece about Dream Donations will air in the coming days. As of late July, they have raised some $2,500 and served about 450 meals. They want to raise a total of $10,000 and feed some 2,000 people. If you’d like to learn more, visit  www.dreamdonations.org.

In the other project, called Counseling Connects, Aruj is hoping to help other teens receive counseling assistance to get into the best college possible. Ideally, this sets students on a path for better outcomes later in life. To help with this project, he’s hosting an event called a Sparkathon on Aug 8. That’s a virtual competition where teams work to produce solutions to problems announced at the event. Judges then select the winning teams. Right now, he’s working to get more participants to join the event. For more details about the project, please visit www.counselingconnects.org. 

Best of luck, Aruj!