BEYOND LEADERSHIP

Will Epperson, 17 Holy Innocent’s Episcopal School

AType 1 diabetic, Will has not let that define him. Instead, he has worked hard to raise money for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), and to help make HIES the top-grossing school in the nation for seven years in a row in the JDRF Fall Walk. With Will as captain of this year’s walk, HIES raised $93,000 for JDRF. When HIES began collecting bottles of clean drinking water for victims of flooding in South Carolina, Will was one of a handful of students who not only helped to load two trucks and a bus, but also went to the state and helped unload the water. He also volunteered at Camp Hope, a weeklong camp for the children of those who are incarcerated, and at AYUDA Inc., a nonprofit that delivers diabetes education to those in the Dominican Republic and other countries. Will, the son of Natalie and Tom Epperson, was a volunteer, fundraiser, mentor and camp counselor for AYUDA this past summer for three weeks, raising $7,000 for the program, and being promoted to mentor for the summer of 2016. One of his most memorable moments was spending last summer in Latin America to educate those living with diabetes. “I was thanked by people who I had never seen before nor spoken to,” he recalled. “It really showed me how much it meant to the campers and their families that we were there to teach them about how to live with diabetes.”

In 7th grade, Julie found the perfect outlet for her love of serving in the National Charity League (NCL), a mother-daughter service organization committed to community service and leadership. Through NCL, she has volunteered hundreds of hours to help organizations such as Operation Gratitude, Agape, Furkids, Buckhead Christian Ministries, Ronald McDonald House, Hospice Atlanta, Atlanta Food Bank and the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Julie, the daughter of Randy and Holly Street, is a particularly devoted volunteer for Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages to veterans and active duty military personnel. Over the past 18 months, Julie has devoted over 150 hours serving Operation Gratitude, and has been involved from the beginning of the partnership between NCL Buckhead and Operation Gratitude. Julie researched paracord bracelet materials, determining where they could be sourced most economically, and created hundreds of ready-to-assemble paracord kits so that the local members of NCL could weave bracelets for the care boxes. She personally wove over 300 bracelets. Speaking about Operation Gratitude, Julie said, “This organization sends over 150,000 care packages a year to active duty military. Reaching out to them was really meaningful for me because four generations of my family have served the U.S. forces in the past century, including my own uncle who has spent five years in both Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Saachi Datta, 16 The Galloway School

Saachi was chosen as a Giving Point Institute member this year because of her work creating an organization called Manāna, which collects donations to throw birthday parties for underprivileged kids. When asked about her most memorable moment giving back, Saachi said, “It is hard to choose just one memorable moment because the last two years with Manāna have been unforgettable. However, there was one event, the memory of which I will always cherish. Walking into the Agape Center to set up for our second celebration, the volunteers and I were excited to surprise the children who did not know that we were returning. When they realized that we had come back, their shrieks of delight were piercing and their enthusiasm was infectious. A little girl, barely 5 years old, came flying up to me, nearly knocking me over, and gave me the tightest hug she could. ‘I remember you! I’m so happy! I just turned five!’ she said. That one large smile on her face went straight to my heart. It made me appreciate that we do have the power to affect others, whether it be one smile or many smiles. I realized then that Manāna’s mission – to celebrate children’s lives – had come to fruition, and my commitment to the cause was sealed.” Saahi is the daughter of Jaydip Datta and Sarita Kansal.

Holy

Ever since she was a young girl, Josie has been a volunteer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In 2012, Josie became part of girlFriends, a volunteer group of ninth-to-12th-grade girls dedicated to fundraising throughout the school year for Children’s. She is now co-president of girlFriends, which raised more than $30,600 last school year. Josie, the daughter of Jim and Diane Barton, also creates cards for sick children through Holy Innocents’ Send-a-Smile Club, tutors at-risk students at Sandy Springs Mission, and serves as an acolyte and vacation Bible school counselor for St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. “One of my most memorable moments was a few years ago while I was volunteering at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Heart to Heart Christmas party,” she said. “I was running the Build a Bear station, helping the heart patients stuff their animals. There was a little girl and her grandmother having trouble, but none of the other volunteers could help them. None of the other volunteers could help because the girl and her grandmother only spoke Spanish. I was nervous at first, but once I began speaking to them in their native language I could see a wave of relief wash over them. As I helped the little girl stuff her bear, I spoke to them and learned she had received a heart transplant as an infant and had had multiple surgeries since. I was so grateful I was able to use my Spanish to help her, especially after everything she had been through.”