12 Local Students Selected For Prestigious Philanthropy Program

West Palm Beach, FL - Philanthropy Tank Palm Beach (www.PhilanthropyTank.org) has announced the names of the local teenagers who want to make a difference addressing an issue impacting our area. The select group of students came from dozens of applications considered by the charity’s advisors.

The Philanthropy Tank Finalists will receive mentorship from leading philanthropists and local business leaders. They will also present their charity program ideas in a "Shark Tank" TV Show-like presentation in front of Philanthropist Investors and an audience of hundreds during the live pitch event at the Kravis Center on March 19, 2020. Each program can be awarded up to $15,000 in funding. The students/projects selected as Finalists include:

· Empower Your Hour - Cameron Newman, 10th grade, Saint Andrews (Boca Raton)

Teens can visit the Empower Your Hour online marketplace, where they can filter their interests and preferences, and find meaningful service opportunities listed by nonprofit organizations.

· Hello Hygienics - Nishah Jaferi and Jonathan Beres, 11th grade, Spanish River High School (Boca Raton)

In Palm Beach County, the issue of homelessness is marked by limited access to basic needs such as dental care, skin care, feminine products, and more. Hello Hygienics strives to combat this barrier to proper sanitation by providing handy, on-the-go, wellness kits to prioritize health for the less fortunate.

· Idea Lab - Angel Rojas, Pierce Dono, and Oliver Charles-Pierre, 8th grade, St. Vincent Ferrer School (Delray Beach)

These students aim to start an Idea lab in the library of the Glades based Hope Rural School based on the principles we have learned in Design Thinking class. Students will have a setup where they can gather tools and materials to create, invent, tinker, and fabricate as a community through hands on design and construction.

· MoneyBuddies - Gabriel Sun and Brendan Detamore, 11th grade, American Heritage (Delray Beach)

MoneyBuddies is a program that intends to inspire the youth of Palm Beach County by providing them with fun, free lessons in basic principles of financial literacy and proper money management.

· Stand Up and Be Counted - Anajiah Graham, 11th grade, Glades Central Community (Belle Glade)

Concentrating in the Glades Area, the program’s goal is to increase the numbers of individuals who first complete and return the Census documents, thereby gaining seats in the House of Representatives when new electoral district boundaries are drawn.

· South Florida Tech for Seniors - Sam Friedman, 10th grade, Suncoast High School (Riviera Beach)

This program will work to help local senior citizens with their technology needs while teaching them basic skills to be self-sufficient.

· Venture - Benjamin Gao, 11th grade, Dreyfoos School of The Arts (West Palm Beach)

Venture is a student-led initiative based out of Dreyfoos School of the Arts. The primary goal of this project is to spread work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills to elementary and middle school students within Palm Beach County.

· Girls Help Girls - Rithika Kacham, 11th grade, Suncoast High School (Riviera Beach)

Girls Help Girls is a project that aims to help women in need receive proper hygiene products such as diva cups and pads by raising awareness about the lack of access women have to proper hygiene products.

This is Philanthropy Tank’s fifth year of supporting future ‘changemakers’. In that time, students have created and continue to run organizations supporting music/art education, women's empowerment, underprivileged children, pediatric cancer patients and more. The nonprofit Philanthropy Tank has awarded more than $400,000 in funding and provided hundreds of hours of mentorship for teens who have started nearly three dozen local charities.

Philanthropy Tank’s local success has led to its recently announced expansion to Baltimore, Maryland.

2018-2019 Finals Event Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TRRwC5bnWw&t=965s