Seventeen year old, high school Junior, Lucas Lauridia, had the opportunity to fundraise with a group known as the Dudes of Disruption. In 2018, with the funds raised, a group of 23, traveled to Haiti to help build and finance a school library for the HEART in Haiti School. Lucas wanted to participate in another culture as well as see where the money was going. This experience set Lucas on an amazing journey. A life changing journey he would say.
While Lucas was in Haiti he enjoyed interacting with the children at the School and especially playing basketball on the School’s court. Back home in New York, he thought about how little effort it takes to make a big impact in the world. This led Lucas to create his own website https://teenshelpingkids.com/ to raise funds to send more students to school at HEART. He knows how fortunate US students are and was so moved by the $1 a day it takes to educate a Haitian student for a year. Just $365 and that includes 2 meals a day.
Lucas created a program called, Teens Helping Kids, and began raking leaves to earn funds. He invited his friends to join in the plan and has recruited 15 volunteers to help send more students to school. Teens Helping Kids continues to grow. Volunteers are coming up with more ways to raise funds including 
successful bake sales, selling food at school games, shoveling snow, giving guitar lessons. Lucas said, “We are doing what we normally do, nothing extraordinary,” but it is for an extraordinary purpose.
Lucas is a firm believer in raising funds through action rather than just asking. Students want to serve and have a purpose with amazing outcomes. They enjoy helping kids go to school while they explore their own creativity. New ideas for fundraising and bringing awareness to the program are beginning to grow. A new generation of thoughtful young people, are finding ways to be in service in the world. This is truly an inspiring program and we salute Lucas and his team. HEART is very grateful for their enthusiasm and support of the students in Haiti.
As of this posting, Lucas, since October, has raised enough funds to send 4 students to school for a year, and he’s just getting started!
