NEW YORK, NY
ENTREPRENEUR’S CORNER CRAIG SANDERS, FOUNDER OF HELPEN By Bailey Beckett
n such an extreme time, when messages about community, hope, and compassion are lost to news about disease, politics, and social unrest, how can parents instill the values in their kids they do not see in the media? A new program called HELPEN, created by New York-based entrepreneur Craig Sanders, is looking to fill that void. His concept bridges families to worthy non-profits through a fun game, voice-assisted learning, and life skills designed to shape kids into the next generation of leaders. Realizing children are in their most crucial development period between ages 2 and 9, HELPEN uses that time frame to expose kids to examples of charity, community, and selflessness. Sanders, a Kansas native, attended Boston University, where he walked on to the men’s hockey team and eventually played overseas in Amsterdam and Australia. He later pursued a career in bond trading, which he credits with teaching him risk management and decision-making skills. During that time, he began fundraising for non-profits like the Travis Roy Foundation and the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, all Boston-based organizations with strong ties to the New England hockey communities. That was the beginning. Sanders came up with the idea for HELPEN while applying to Harvard Business School. Although he wasn’t accepted, the process led him to examine his own life story and how experiences from his upbringing helped determine his life path. 80 | OUR CITY, YOUR LIFE | JUNE 2021
