Meet RandomKid's National Task Force to Rebuild the Gulf

Tiron, age 13, is Tonisha’s brother.  He loves his new house.  His room is done up in Bulls colors.  Tiron knew he wanted to help other kids get into homes after Katrina, so he joined the task force as an artist.  Working in simple, elegant line drawings, Tiron’s works will be auctioned off (click here to check them out), with proceeds to benefit rebuilding the gulf.  Family Circle Magazine recently asked him what it felt like to be able to help other kids get homes now that he has one.  His response, “I feel like a hero.”

Tonisha is 10 years old.  She and brother, Tiron, received the keys to their Habitat for Humanity home in Slidell, LA about a year ago on the Today Show.  Tonisha joined the task force and took on the title, “Director of Inspiration.”  It is her hope to inspire a lot of people to keep helping rebuild the gulf, so that she can “pay it forward”.  She also wants to help rebuild schools and playgrounds.  Her school, Brock Elementary, won’t be ready to move back into for another two years! She will be delivering $25,000 in holiday gifts to all 200 hurricane survivors in her make-shift school on behalf of her task force in mid-December.

Sarah, age 14, is a young entrepreneur with a goal to raise $750,000 for Habitat for Humanity’s OHD.  She came up with a product idea to sell carabiners, mountain-climbing hooks often used as key chains or backpack snap-ons. These collectible carabiners were recently featured in Family Circle’s December, 2006 issue, and Sarah has engaged the interest of multibillion dollar companies in supporting the task force with selling these products.  Net proceeds from the sales of these items will go to Habitat for Humanity to build homes in the gulf, and to support the efforts of these children through their nonprofit.

Talia, age 11, rallied kids around her relief project, “Trick-or-Treat for the Levee Catastrophe”.  Children across the USA not only trick-or-treated with her, they also reported their own unique fundraising efforts on to her website.  At last count, their totals topped $10 million for a variety of relief charities, including Oprah’s Angel Network!  Talia co-founded a nonprofit that helps kids help others called “RandomKid”.  She also considers herself a venture capitalist:  She designed Sarah’s carabiners into collectibles that are shaped like houses, and she so believes in this project, that she invested the $2000 in seed money from an award she recently won—the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.

Emma, age 9, joined the task force because she wants to continue helping people, as she has successfully done in the past. One year ago, she managed to provide her friend’s family with free in-home piano lessons once a week for a year from a member of a major symphony.  Her friend’s mom had stage 4 cancer, and couldn’t drive--now she’ll always have the gift of music to share with her daughters beyond her lifetime. She has since helped raise more than $1000 in their school and over $25,000 in corporate donations for a holiday gift drive for 2 schools affected by the 2005 hurricanes.

Nicholas is 10 years old.  He’s working with his brother and sister toward a common goal: Collect A LOT of loose change to build homes in the gulf.  Together, they’ve already collected over $1000 for Habitat for Humanity. Nicholas joined this national task force because he wants to keep raising money, and get other kids to help, until everyone who needs a home after the 2005 hurricanes has one.

Lanna, age 10, single-handedly managed to furnish an entire Habitat for Humanity  house-- including furniture, carpeting, art work, a grill and landscape materials-- for a single mom with four-children in the Midwest. Lanna had never met this family before, who, at the time, owned all of one bed, and very little else.  Lanna is now on the task force and working with Emma to manage a school-wide coin collection, as well as a holiday gift drive for 2 schools in the gulf.  It is her goal to help more families get homes.

Shelby, age 14, wanted to do whatever she could to brighten the holidays of hurricane survivors in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.  She led a gift drive in the Fall of 2005 that netted over $1600!  Shelby’s family, inspired by her dedication and enthusiasm, rented a big van and drove to MS to host a big party for a number of kids down there.  Now Shelby has joined this national task force so that she can help many more people who lost so much in the hurricanes.