At 16, San Jose native Shrobana Sengupta wants to make sure that families in need had the tools to survive.
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"During this pandemic, it's given me, and probably a lot of people, a lot more time at home and instead of spending it just watching TV and just wasting that time," Sengupta said. "I really just wanted to use it and help other people."
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So, the Presentation High School student got to work.
Sengupta says that she learned the core values of giving back and volunteerism from her school and her mother.
After spending time as a volunteer at San Jose nonprofit Sunday Friends, she knew where she wanted to make an impact.
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"Around September or October, I started a fundraiser for Sunday Friends," Sengupta said. "I've been volunteering with the Sunday Friends since middle school and I've seen upfront all the good work they've been doing for these families. So, I really wanted to aid with that and give 50 families 50 laptops by raising $15,000. The way I've been raising the money is mainly through donations and by selling these macarons."
Sengupta sells her handmade macarons through her Instagram page and website.
Since the fundraiser began, she has raised nearly $6,000 of her $15,000 goal to help the families involved with Sunday Friends.
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"Our main focus is empowering very low income families to break the generational cycle of poverty," Sunday Friends Executive Director James McCaskill said. "The families we serve are at the margins of society, the worst case just scraping by to exist. Sunday Friends is here, not just to support existence, but to help families thrive. The work that Shrobana is doing is contributing with families thriving."
"I just hope that everyone just follows their passions and sort of explores it. I actually thought of doing macarons for the very first time. I knew macarons were known to be very difficult to make, so I kind of took it up as a challenge. I knew that $15,000 is not easy to raise just on my own for so long, so I would be really, really happy to be able to help all these families and give them the computers and help them out."
To get involved with the fundraiser, you can visit Shrobana's GoFundMe page, her Instagram, or her website.
To learn more about Sunday Friends, visit their website here.