A Successful Social Entrepreneurial Venture

“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”

– Elon Musk

On December 9th 2023 10 year old Jack Weed from Barrington accompanied local adult volunteers to bring a Christmas lunch to over 150 families of ex prisoners in Chicago. Youth social entrepreneurs at Chess Without Borders have led this project for the last 8 years. This venture was the brainchild of Barrington resident Bob Wulff who introduced the idea to Chess Without Borders because of its longstanding history of social entrepreneurship. This year youth leaders Jack Weed, Joelle and Brennen Moy, Anthony Zhu, Paari and Varun Dhanasekaran and Dimitri Diyadawagamage raised money and collected items for donation to make this a successful venture. The amazing aspect of small start up projects such as this are that students are free to create their own methods of raising funds, they are given goals but everything else is for them to discover. For example, a student observed that his mentor Zein Bertacchi was a talented cook so he asked Zein to come up with a dish to sell, "everyone loves your food" said Dimitri Diyadawagamage . Zein came up with her Magical Spices that they sold raising $1000 towards various projects.

Another idea created by Prashant Ramachandra was to host an online Trivia contest where he raised $100 for charity. Collaborating with Salem United Methodist Church and working with adult volunteers was inspiring for 10 year old Jack who tried his best to keep up with their spirit and energy. Jack served the vegetable along with the others (as shown in the photograph) He also had time to introduce himself to other youth as well as observe the gifts brought to the event by volunteers. A local business in Barrington, Rodina Botanicals also donated money towards the event raised by featuring Chess Without Borders as its nonprofit for the month of October. https://www.rodinabotanicals.c...

The Christmas lunch on Dec 9th was held in a church in Chicago for over 170 people including children. A special lunch was provided and served after which gifts were distributed to adults and children. There was music and much gratitude for the work done by volunteers to make this event possible. Reverend Tommy Johnson who is the Director of Outside the Walls ministry inspires hundreds of ex prisoners to stay out of prison. Outside the Walls started in 2012 as a local church dedicated to experiencing and sharing the healing hope of Christ, both within the Church walls and outside of them, via discipleship, worship arts, home and hospital visits, prayer gatherings, ministering in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and meeting other needs as they occurred. At the lunch a few volunteers gave inspiring testimonials about the adversities they have suffered but overcome them through help and hope.

An interesting research in the field of Epigenetics states that " Rich learning experiences generate positive epigenetic signatures that activate genetic potential.". Epigenetics is an emerging area of scientific research that shows how environmental influences—children's experiences—actually affect the expression of their genes. https://developingchild.harvar... As the nation grapples with the reality of isolation and how adversely it affects children and young adults it is important to think of using these creative projects to advance health and welfare of youth.

Social entrepreneurial projects serve several psychodynamic functions for youth. They provide Freedom and Flexibility, Creativity, Valuable Relationships, where youth need to network with all ages and ethnicities in order to accomplish goals. The impact of their work enhances Personal Growth as 14 year old Ethan Gagliano said, "I feel more ambitious when I am doing things for others". Youth discover their skills through various stages of creating and implementing the projects. As a testament to this observation since 2000 several youth at Chess Without Borders who have created and maintained long term projects have gone on to start and run companies of their own as adults contributing economically, socially and intellectually to society. The higher functions such as cooperation, curiosity, empathy, humor and knowledge enabled by working on social projects builds character preparing youth to take on complex issues facing our world today.

More information about examples of what youth have created is available in an ibook at:

Raising Social Entrepreneurs

Join us if interested by emailing Kiran at chesswob@gmail.com