CHELSEA, Manhattan (PIX11) -- Imagine being 13 or 15 years old and starting your nonprofit organization. Dozens of teens in the tri-state area have been doing just that with the help of fellowships from the Riley's Way Foundation.
Wednesday night, the Foundation held a Gala at Chelsea Piers to celebrate 10 years of helping teens and young adults aged 13 to 23. The "Call For Kindness Fellowships" provide up to $5,000 in funding and developmental leadership training.
Ian Sandler and his wife founded the organization ten years ago after their 9-year-old daughter Riley died suddenly at sleep away camp.
The Sandlers donated her organs.
"We're never going to truly know what happened. We were told it was something called Epiglottitis, which is when your epiglottis in your throat constricts," he said.
"Riley was just somebody who was going to have a big impact on this world, and we weren't prepared to let her light go out. Our goal is to put kind leaders into every walk of life and slowly but surely change the world," Ian Sandler told PIX11 News.
Eleventh graders Jia Michel and Taja Richardson started their nonprofit, myNetworkHer, in 9th grade. It connects teens with mentors.
"We have mentors from Puerto Rico to here in New York, and we have also brought speakers to communities in Malaysia even," Michel said.
Richardson told PIX11 News that the Riley's Way grant money helped them.
"We were struggling to keep it going because keeping the domain was a lot of money, to keep the upkeep, to get speakers and to hold in-person events cost so much money," he said.
Dylan Zajac, 21, founded Computers 4 People at age 15. He said he had a "lightbulb moment" when he realized corporations had old computers that he could refurbish and give to people in need.
Zajac, also a fellowship recipient, said the money helped him grow his nonprofit to the point where he now has 10 employees and has helped 3,500 people access the Internet.
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