San Jose Teenager Turns $100 Seed Money Into $34K For Charity

When Sonali Ranaweera was 11 years old, her parents gave her a gift that came with one condition: she and her brother each received $100 but, as she explained, “I had to use it to make a difference in someone's life.”

Mar 20, 2015

When Sonali Ranaweera was 11 years old, her parents gave her a gift that came with one condition: she and her brother each received $100 but, as she explained, “I had to use it to make a difference in someone's life.” Over the past four years, the San Jose Mighty Girl has fulfilled this requirement many times over as she's turned that $100 into $34,000 in charitable donations!

When Sonali first received the gift of $100, she decided that she wanted to help a child who needed cleft lip/palate surgery by donating it to SmileTrain, a non-profit that provides free corrective surgeries to children in developing countries. After learning that their suggested donation to pay for a single surgery was $250, Sonali committed to raising the additional funds to make up the difference.

At the same time, she was learning about recycling in school; although she was familiar with curbside recycling, it was the first time she discovered that you could bring cans and bottles to recycling centres in exchange for cash. To raise the additional $150, she started collecting recyclables to bring in for redemption. Sonali quickly met her goal and, encouraged by her success, she decided to continue her effort and soon began involving others in her project.

As she expanded beyond her own family’s recycling into that of her family and friends, and later her school, she formed her own non-profit organization, Recycling4Smiles, to manage the donations. With the help of friends, she now sorts through thousands of cans and bottles each week, a hard and often dirty task. In total, over four years, Sonali has redeemed over 37,000 pounds of recyclables which has allowed her to donate $34,000 to charity.

Sonali, who is now a freshman in high school, has received many accolades for her commitment to charity, including a $10,000 scholarship from the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Programme. But to this kindhearted Mighty Girl, the real reward comes from seeing the pictures of the children whose smiles she has helped restore through corrective surgery: “I think, wow! It makes me happy to think what a difference we have made in their lives.” -- By Catholic Resources

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