Volunteer Work

Runway to Hope is a charity that was founded by my family 12 years ago that has played an impactful role in my life for as long as I can remember. Since its inception there has never been a year that I haven’t volunteered and helped organize, in one way or another. When I was younger I would gather all of my elementary friends and I would create a “store” where we would sell cookies. Remarkably and to our surprise we raised thousands of dollars for pediatric cancer. More recently, I founded a school club and organized volunteers to benefit children with pediatric cancer and their families. We participate in multiple fundraising events that are held throughout the year. Runway to Hope and the children we’ve helped have truly changed my life and profoundly impacted me.

My grandma tragically passed away in 2018 and she was diagnosed with Lupus. Lupus is a crippling auto-immune disease in which the body attacks itself. Since her passing my family and I along with grandpa participate in the annual Lupus Walk held in Orlando. This is one of my favorite events all year and I constantly look forward to it as I know that I’m “Helping Solve The Cruel Mystery”.

Videography is a recreational hobby that I’ve become quite passionate about. I’m not a professional nor anything close to it, but I do have an eye for capturing moments and have created videos since I was quite young. As I became more proficient I started videographing various events including, high school sports games, a wedding, and events for Runway to Hope.

My family and I  had the honor of hosting three beautiful Ugandan girls. Throughout the few days they stayed with my family, we were full of laughter, learning, dancing, and expressions of love. The girls were part of the “African Children’s Choir”. They toured the United States raising funds to pay for their education. The performances they gave were amazing, absolutely breathtaking, and filled with beauty. Throughout the few days they stayed with us we experienced so much, from going to get ice cream, cooking family meals together, playing games, learning some of their native dances, and even taking them on their first boat ride. We all have so much in the world that we can learn from one another. 

I interned at “Joshi Law” where I was able to perform legal administrative work. Throughout the course of the internship I gained much knowledge on the day to day work of a criminal defense lawyer, something I’m considering pursuing as a future career. I annotated legal cases, watched hours worth of body cam footage and even shadowed an attorney while she appeared in court for a hearing. My father has a law firm as well but I wanted to gain experience independently from his firm so that I could evaluate and learn from my own perspective.

With destruction, poverty, and violence rampant in Venezuela I couldn’t sit  and not do anything. I have friends in my life who are Venezuelan and seeing how much this impacted them spoke to me. I, along with my family, collected non-perishable food items, hygiene products and clothes that were donated to those in need and crisis in Venezuela. Sadly, I also learned that many items are stolen upon arrival, so we had to coordinate with a family friend to make sure the items arrived safely to those who they were intended for.

This event was such an amazing day, filled with smiling children and positive energy. We were able to provide supplies and distribute snacks to underprivileged children within our local Haitian community. I even got soaked repeatedly as I volunteered to be in the dunk tank, which was super fun. The children were filled with love and appreciation…as was I.

These photos are some other volunteer events I’ve participated in. They range from Christmas time community volunteering to Halloween carnival face painting. As I’ve mentioned before, volunteering is a vital part of my life and these are just some more captured moments of me doing what I love.