Country of Residence
United States
Age
17
Project title
Lumera Light Kits
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
We created Lumera Light Kits, which are self-care, hygiene, and basic first-aid donation kits specialized for men and women experiencing homelessness in the Seattle area.
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
As an organization, we wanted to start a project that would benefit our community. After some research, we discovered that many residents in Seattle experience homelessness. Furthermore, many do not have access to hygiene and healthcare products. With this information, we came up with the idea of Lumera Light Kits. The only problem now was that we needed someone to distribute these kits to those in need for us. So we contacted Seattle Homeless Outreach, a local organization that does exactly that. Now we are hoping to partner with Seattle Homeless Outreach to set our in project in motion.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Growing up in a privileged and educated community as the one in Bothell, Washington is a lifestyle many can only dream of, and yet some areas of King County have a counting number of 18,300 homeless individuals. Neighborhood Lumera prioritizes bringing light to the world, and we believe the best way to achieve such a level of impact is to start small. Access to hygiene and first-aid products around the world are dangerously low, hence our Lumera Light kits. In other words, the problem we have addressed is the lack of necessities for individuals experiencing homelessness. Lumera Light kits spread the privilege to those in need, starting with the Seattle area. Specifically in Seattle, around 54% of homeless individuals are able to utilize the emergency shelters who are close to capping their limits (currently they are at 93%), meaning the remaining half must suffer for long periods of time without proper hygiene. We believe everyone deserves access to these basics regardless of economic/residential status, and our Lumera Light Kits will work to fix this problem.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
In response to this problem, our Lumera Light Kits will contain self-care, hygiene, and basic first aid products such as socks, hand sanitizer, and bandages. We will also customize each kit with a card of encouragement, unique to each kit. Furthermore, there will 2 types of kits, each specialized to support the needs of biological males and females. The kits for females contain maxi pads in addition to all the other necessities, in order to help those who experience periods who do not have access to menstrual products. We are creating a fundraiser to raise money for the Lumera Light Kits, in which everyone who supports our cause can help by donating. The first 20 kits will be made with our own money, and depending on how much money we make from our fundraiser, we will be creating and donating in the future as this project is going to keep running in the long-term. These kits will be distributed to areas in Seattle which do not have regular access to homeless support with the help of Seattle Homeless Outreach , so that everyone experiencing homeless has equal opportunities to get the support they need, no matter where they are.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Our project is currently in it's early stages, but the impact of this project is clear and it's purpose is already expected to create a momentum and hope within our community. We created this initiative because we had heard about the thousands of lives experiencing homelessness who are currently struggling in Seattle due to their land of access to basic necessities that many of us may be taking for granted. Our approach to solving this is by creating our Lumera Light Kits which are designed to meet the needs that are necessary for them. While we are still preparing for our first distribution of our Lumera Light Kits, we still have a clear understanding for our impact that we hope to create which goes beyond the items themselves. We want help support our community, we want everyone regardless of their residential status to feel seen and heard which is why we created our Lumera Light kits as a way to build a long-term network of care for Seattle's poor and needy.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Our project addresses both physical and mental/emotional well being, setting us apart from traditional health kits. Lumera Light kits contain one handcrafted, unique to each kit, card of encouragement with the basic necessities. We believe that supporting and caring for homeless people in our community goes beyond physical conditions. Experiencing homelessness can increase stress and feelings of isolation. Our cards intentionally focus on the mental encouragement and wellbeing of the receiver of the kit, which basic kits don't have.
How many people are on your team?
4
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
We have 4 members and are all High Schoolers. Navkiran Kaur is our president. Some of her tasks as president is to oversee every decision created. Noorpreet Kaur is our vice president. Her tasks are to contact organizations and incorporate our schedules to current projects. Nivedita Menon is our secretary. Her tasks are to manage our social media pages, as well as our fundraisers and websites. Minh Nguyen is our treasurer. She manages finances, and records the activity of each meeting.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
As of now, we have created a complete outline of all the products we will be providing in each of our Lumera Light Kits, calculated the costs for each kit, and created our website for donations. We have sent an email discussing our interest to partner with Seattle Homeless Outreach, and are awaiting their response. For the next steps of our plan, we will heavily rely on our social media pages to promote our fundraiser. We plan to buy the first 20 kits with our own money, and share videos and photos of our efforts on social media to convince people to help our cause. We will also contact people in our connections, potentially our school, to see if they can donate. We will give people various gifts and prizes according to how much money they donate. Each of the kits will be hand-wrapped and packaged by us, and given to Seattle Homeless Outreach so they can distribute the kits directly to the homeless in the Seattle area. Our target goal is to raise enough money for 100 Lumera Light Kits in the next 3 months. We will also start asking for partnerships with the various local businesses in our area, such as Fred Meyer and Costco, so they can potentially supply us products with reduced prices. Our progress will be highly documented, with various posts to keep our followers updated across all our social media platforms.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
Because our project is still in it's early stages, our focus is currently to build a strong foundation and clear message that inspires others to join our cause. We've spent the past 2 months developing a solid plan for the Lumera Light kits and shaping a mission that people can believe in, which is to bring people hope with our essential care kits being accompanied with a personal/unique card of encouragement to Seattle's homeless communities. As we move into the next stages in our project, we plan to partner with Seattle Homeless Outreach to distribute kits effectively and safely. We also intend to potentially create a group of volunteers who can help join our cause and expand the lengths of help that we intend to do.
