It’s time for another round of Super Awesome Kids™ and the super awesome things they do!
Saffron and Shreya Patel (Letters Against Isolation) 
Sofia Migilazza, Erin Rogers, Lauryn Hong, Ella Matlock (Be the Change Coloring Co) 
Pravneet and Hurshneet Chada (Manpreet Chadha)
Budding Young Journalists Get Crafty With Homemade Newsletters
KidsPost, a lifestyle section of the Washington Post with news, features, contests, and activities for kids, shared a delightful article about kids across the United States who are documenting their pandemic days with homemade newsletters. Ranging in age from 6 to 13, and writing everywhere from the West Coast (Washington, Oregon, California) to the Midwest (Indiana, Wisconsin), to the Northeast (Virginia, Connecticut, Maine), these young journalists, editors, and cartoonists write opinion pieces, share neighborhood news, give updates on their remote learning adventures, and share recipes, reviews, jokes, puzzles, and more. Some of the newsletters boast hundreds of readers across dozens of states, and others have gone digital, including The Daily Excitement and Ryland’s Newspaper.
Boston Sisters Start Letters Against Isolation to Help Seniors in Care Centers
When the pandemic began, Shreya Patel, 18, and her sister Saffron, 16, started reaching out more frequently to their grandparents in England who were largely isolated due to health concerns. When the sisters found out how much their grandmother enjoyed receiving handwritten letters, they started Letters Against Isolation, a campaign to send cards to seniors in care centers who might be feeling lonely during the pandemic. Once a week, they send each volunteer an address to an elderly care facility in the continental U.S. and ask that volunteers track the number of letters they mail out each week. Within a couple of months, the Patels were networking with more than 2,500 volunteers who had sent 21,000 letters and cards to 5,000 seniors in nursing homes across the United States. They intend to continue the letter-writing campaign long after the pandemic has ended, to keep brightening seniors’ days for years to come. Volunteer here to join Letters Against Isolation, learn more, and follow them on Instagram.
Arizona Brothers Send Homemade Cards to Coronavirus Patients
Meanwhile in Peoria, Arizona, brothers Hurshneet, 15, and Pravneet Chadha, 12, have started their own letter writing campaign. Early in the pandemic, the brothers learned from their physician parents that coronavirus patients in healthcare facilities had been isolated from visitors and were feeling lonely. The brothers wanted to cheer them up, and so they started Project Smile AZ and proceeded to make and send more than 1,000 homemade cards to COVID-19 patients across Arizona. They’ve enlisted more volunteers to help and are assembling “Kits for Kids” with supplies to help kids at Child Crisis Arizona make their own letters for patients. Visit their website and follow them on Facebook to find out more. Support them on Patreon to keep Project Smile AZ going.
California Teens Design Coloring Books to Educate Kids and Raise Money for Charity
What began as a school project for four teenage freshmen at Long Beach Polytechnic High School transformed into an educational coloring book and a company: Be the Change Coloring Co. The company’s founders, 15-year-olds Lauryn Hong, Ella Matlock, Sofia Migliazza, and Erin Rogers, expected to sell a few copies to family and friends, but within a month, they had sold 500 copies and raised more than $1,000 for charities. Their website now sells the original Covid Coloring Book, with a pre-order for their second title, Stand Up for Your-shell-ves, and buyers can opt to donate 40% of the proceeds to a charity of their choice from a list of organizations. The founders’ mission is to educate kids on important issues in a kid-friendly and accessible way while giving back to their community. Follow them on Instagram and visit their website.
Michigan 9-Year-Old Sews Hundreds of Face Masks
Michaela (“Mac”) Munyan learned to sew in an after-school program, and when her school went remote in March, sewing became more than a hobby—it became an opportunity to help others. When 9-year-old Mac found out that there were shortages of PPE, she found a mask pattern online and got to work. She has since made more than 700 masks which she has donated to healthcare workers and other essential employees, family, friends, and residents of her home state of Michigan. She has received donations of fabric and monetary gifts that she used to purchase more supplies. Michaela’s mask-making business became so popular that her parents set up The Friendly Chupacabra, a Facebook page for updates on Mac’s progress and where interested folks can reach out to make requests or just express their thanks.
California Girl Raises More Than $40k to Donate Diverse Books and Skin-Colored Crayons
For 7-year-old Madison Wilson, being an entrepreneur runs in the family. When she grows up, she wants to take over her family’s business (and also become a paleontologist and equestrian), but in the meantime, her mission is to bring multicultural books and crayons to schools around the country. Madison was frustrated by her school’s lack of diverse books and not having crayons that match her own brown skin tone, and the release of a new 24-pack of Crayola Colors of the World skin tone crayons gave her a great idea. With help from her mom, Vashti, Madison started a GoFundMe to raise $3,000 to buy books and crayons for her school. And when the fundraiser took off (with more than $40,000 raised so far), the Wilsons set more ambitious goals. Madison was named an Ambassador for the Crayon Collection, Madi’s Treasure Box is becoming a non-profit, and Madi’s Corner—Madison’s own education show—is coming soon!
Madison Wilson (Vashti Wilson) 
Quarantine Weekly (Moubon Kurukumbi) 
Michaela Munyan (The Friendly Chupacabra)