By Khalida Sarwari
After working together to drum up a plan to build a fireproof bodysuit for first responders at a Stanford University camp over the summer, a group of local teens recently reunited for a different cause: to spread their love of reading to other kids and teens in the area, and eventually worldwide.
By Oct. 11, the teens had raised $2,875 on crowdfunding site Piggybackr to launch JewelRead, a nonprofit they started in late August. Roshan Chandna, 13, an eighth grader at Hillview Middle School and one of the founders, explained the objective: “We’d have a jewelry store and our profits would go to buying books for underprivileged kids who can and want to read, but cannot afford books.”
The ultimate goal, states a summary on the JewelRead website, is “spreading this hobby to children around the world, including in villages where books are unavailable.”
His co-founder Jennifer Veis, a 15-year-old Saratoga High School sophomore, acknowledged that they aren’t the only ones attempting to do a literacy project. The difference, she said, is that JewelRead–because it incorporates the founders’ own favorite books that are purchased from local bookstores–offers a more personal experience.
“A lot of organizations collect books and donate to the shelter,” Jennifer said. “We’re planning to go to the shelter and talk about books to kids or put a creative bookmark in there talking about why we love books.”
For their first book distribution, the teens have chosen the San Jose Family Shelter as a beneficiary. Their aim is to deliver the books around Christmastime. Jennifer said it will be up to the shelter to decide whether to give the books to the kids or build an in-house library.
But first, the teens must figure out such logistics as which books to purchase, where to purchase them and whether to buy new, used or a combination thereof.
“We want to make sure these books are being read and being valued; that’s really our goal,” Jennifer said.
The next step for the teens is to focus on the jewelry aspect of JewelRead. When they cross that bridge, they’ll have to decide whether to have a fellow co-founder with an artistic flair design the jewelry or partner with an existing jewelry company, said Jennifer. One thing they do know for now is that they want to sell the jewelry online.
Aside from Roshan, who hails from Menlo Park, and Jennifer, a Saratoga resident, the other founding members are brothers Brandon Yu and Ethan Yu from Daly City; Jennifer Zhude from Palo Alto; Julian Young from Union City; Aayush Sharma from Fremont; Prateek Sayyaparaju from Maryland; and Bansini Doshi from India.
The teens met at Camp BizSmart this summer, according to Jennifer, and bonded by working with Ekso Bionics, a company that develops and manufactures exoskeleton bionic suits for paraplegics. Soon after the camp wrapped up, Jennifer said they learned about Piggybackr’s fundraising competition.
“We decided we’d all like to reconnect and enter into this competition,” said Jennifer. “We asked a few other members of the other groups to see if they’d be interested in working with us. That’s how we all came together and decided to enter the world of fundraising.”
She continued, “I think that I would like to see [JewelRead] become something that a lot of people know about, and up there with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”
Visit JewelRead’s website at jewelread.weebly.com to learn more about the organization and how to donate.
