Lisowe's Lights Shine Bright Project
NAME | Amelia
GRADE | 8
LOCATION | Bryant, Arkansas
Amelia, an 8th grader from Bryant, Arkansas, founded and grew “Lisowe’s Lights,” an organization that has donated 30,000+ night lights to offer comfort to children entering the foster system and to raise awareness about the experience that these youth endure in being removed from their homes at night or in otherwise frightening situations. She was inspired to support this community after growing up volunteering at events for foster parents and children in the foster care system.
Lisowe’s Lights began in 2018, and Amelia has steadily been pushing forward to collect more night lights and grow her team: she currently has 20 ambassadors who are hosting their own night light drives in their communities and amplifying the project’s impact. She has been invited to speak at events and conferences, and she continues to raise awareness and deliver night lights to foster care organizations in all 50 U.S. states.
Lisowe's Lights Shine Bright Project
NAME | Amelia
GRADE | 8
LOCATION | Bryant, Arkansas
Amelia, an 8th grader from Bryant, Arkansas, founded and grew “Lisowe’s Lights,” an organization that has donated 30,000+ night lights to offer comfort to children entering the foster system and to raise awareness about the experience that these youth endure in being removed from their homes at night or in otherwise frightening situations. She was inspired to support this community after growing up volunteering at events for foster parents and children in the foster care system.
Lisowe’s Lights began in 2018, and Amelia has steadily been pushing forward to collect more night lights and grow her team: she currently has 20 ambassadors who are hosting their own night light drives in their communities and amplifying the project’s impact. She has been invited to speak at events and conferences, and she continues to raise awareness and deliver night lights to foster care organizations in all 50 U.S. states.
When I was younger my mom was on the Court Appointed Special Advocate board of directors in our town so I grew up volunteering around foster families and at events for children in foster care. As I got older I wanted to make a difference on my own. When I was 7 I began collecting night lights for children in foster care after I heard that many children in foster care have to leave in the middle of the night and be removed from scary situations. As someone who was afraid of the dark myself I wanted to provide kids in foster care an item of comfort in the form of a nightlight when they moved into their new foster homes.
I began in 2018 by collecting nightlights online via social media. When school started back that year I went to my counselor and asked if we could plan a hat day where kids brought $1 to wear a hat to school and use the money raised to purchase lights. I collected and donated 500 nightlights to children in foster care later that year. Since then I have donated over 30,000 nightlights to children in foster care in every country in Arkansas, every state in the US, and 10 countries around the world.
Outside of that I am hoping to speak to organizations in my community to speak to each month to engage businesses and other volunteers to help host packing parties with their organizations to help me meet my goal of delivering boxes of lights to foster care organizations to all 50 states in the US in 2025.
Going into 2025 I want to once again donate to every state in the US. I deliver boxes of 25 nightlights and 25 handwritten cards to a foster care organization along with a card telling each organization more about us and how they can order more lights.
I have a team of 20 ambassadors across the country that will help me accomplish this goal. They are each asked to host 2 night light drives and 2 packing parties in their communities before the end of the year. In April I have been asked to speak at a conference in Los Angeles where we will pack up 100 backpacks for children in foster care in southern California. Also in April I've been asked to speak at a national conference in Louisiana and host their service project where we will pack up another 1000 night lights.
I have a team of 20 ambassadors from across the country. We just had a virtual kickoff meeting last week. Ambassadors have to apply along with a letter of recommendation in order to join our organization. I find that ambassadors are willing to serve and help make a difference.
In my community I work with different businesses and civic groups throughout the year to host packing parties with them. These groups can be a mix of adults and people closer to my age. I have found that the key to engaging volunteers is to not have them work on one part of the project for too long.