Hearts of Gold: Teen volunteers give back through interactive projects

The Touch A Heart Foundation recently had its third Hearts of Gold Day with a community service event to benefit disadvantaged children and families in need.

The Touch A Heart Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization based in Boca Raton, has a mission to enrich the lives of disadvantaged children in the tri-county area of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The Hearts of Gold Volunteer Day took place in Boca Raton as an opportunity for volunteers of all ages to give back to the community. The event included teenage volunteers assisting with a variety of projects to benefit children, older people, victims of domestic violence and others in need. They had interactive stations with activities to benefit children and families of South Florida. The volunteers also donated gently used Lego bricks, mini figures and books.

The volunteer students assembled toiletry bags for St. Paul Baptist Ministry Church while others created Mother’s Day bags for women in domestic abuse shelters. They collected children’s books and decorated accompanying bookmarks for the Friends of the Boca Raton Public Library. The students also wrote cards of encouragement and kindness for older people who are isolated.

The community service day was created and run by volunteers Sasha Kaufman and Samatha Port, who are both 11th-grade students at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, for the third time. In 2021, they founded Hearts of Gold Day with a concentration exclusively on community service.

“We have been so thrilled with the success of our Hearts of Gold Day,” Kaufman said. “Not only do we get to help local families in need, but we also provide a great community service opportunity for other teenagers in our area.”

The 17-year-olds are planning additional community service events in the upcoming years to create more opportunities for teen volunteers. They will also look to once again team up to organize a fourth Hearts of Gold Day.

“The positive response we’ve gotten from both teen volunteers and the people we’re helping just drives us to keep finding ways to give back to our community,” Port said.

Jennifer Kaufman, executive director of the Touch A Heart Foundation, said the community service day makes a difference to help less fortunate children in South Florida.

“Touch A Heart always sets out to help families in need in the community, and Hearts of Gold Day is becoming an integral part of our mission,” she said. “The fact that this is a charity completely run by teenagers makes it all the more special.”

The foundation also is connected with selected partner agencies and creates outreach programs to support children and families in distress. The South Florida children’s charity provides help to children suffering from poverty, abuse, neglect and illness. They also strive to provide instruction to children on the importance of giving back to the community and to promote volunteerism with the goal to make a personal connection with all children and families they have assisted.

The Touch A Heart Foundation also has the Adopt-A-Family holiday charity program to match families in need selected from a partner agency with a sponsor through Touch A Heart. The sponsors receive a profile from their family with a wish list of holiday gifts and household items and the families will receive gifts and a holiday meal.