Written by: Andrea Carneiro • February 15, 2020• The Philanthropist

Jessica Medwin: Making Change

Children for Children // @children4children; childrenforchildren.net

Background

Though still in high school, Jessica Medwin is no stranger to community service. The Gulliver student, alongside her mom Jennifer, has been organizing events to benefit those less fortunate since elementary school. “In seventh grade I also started my own Lung Cancer Foundation,” says Medwin. “Through the sales of my own jewelry and currently through a percentage of my Red Cross Certified Lifeguarding salary, I have donated enough money to cover over 100 lung screening exams at Miami Cancer Institute. My mom always taught my brother and I that giving back and being a caring member of community is essential.”

I decided that I wanted to form a club whose mission would be to foster cultural awareness, tolerance, and commonalities of the soul through connection, social media, and guest speakers.

About Children For Children

Though already involved in community outreach, Medwin was profoundly impacted by a presentation at her temple about an organization working with at-risk Jewish children in the Ukraine. “[I wanted to create a ] group that would aim to help children regardless of their religion, ethnicity, race, gender, or sexual orientation,” she says. Spurred on by the inspiration, she reached out to friend Kylie O’Day and the two decided to bring in help in the form of His House Children’s Home. “We decided that in order to best carry out the club’s mission we wanted an additional organization of another faith that helped children,” she says.

Student Centered

Though Medwin and her friends wanted to bring their ideas inside the Gulliver campus, school rules preventing students from raising money on campus stood in their way. But not for long. While running events outside the school (their first two events raised $4k) they began investigating the process of becoming a non-profit. Soon, they worked a deal with Gulliver administrators that allowed them to recruit volunteers and work on community service while raising funds through the nonprofit arm. “Children for Children, Inc. was finally granted their 501C3 non-profit status on September 5th, 2019. At this point, we began establishing different chapters of the club in other schools such as Christopher Columbus High School, Belen Jesuit Preparatory, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, and Westminster Christian School, in addition to Gulliver Preparatory,” says Medwin.

Moving Forward

In addition to drives and car washes, the organization recently partnered with the Share Foundation for a day at the Miami Zoo filled with workshops on empathy, tolerance and inclusivity. “It was an unbelievable day where all involved were touched in a profound way,” she says. “The transformation that occurred through participating in the Share curriculum was life changing.” Medwin also hopes to continue to grow and spread its mission beyond South a Florida. “The more people that know about Children for Children the greater opportunity we have to expand and effectuate change.”

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