Growing up in the era of social networking, you are often asked to provide a “biography” of yourself, ranging from an infinite amount of characters to a mere 140.

Surprisingly, these biographies have always been a challenge of mine. This meaningless, small paragraph about myself has daunted me for one reason: what do I want people to think of me?

It seems that whenever you go to someone’s profile on a networking site, their “about me” is the first thing that you read. You’re looking for something that interests you, motivates you to be their friend and follow them. After a few years of struggling with the task of making myself a biography, I realized if there is one thing I want people to know about me, it is this: there is nothing I would rather do in life than change someone else’s.

Bingo! I had it. I finally solved the dilemma I had been facing for some years now. But wait, how am I actually going to put this thought into action? How am I, a 16-year-old, going to change someone’s life?

It seemed almost instinct that I would go to my mother for this. My mother, the inspiration for all of my philanthropic efforts, and the sole person who prompted my interest in everything charity related. A couple of years ago, we toyed with the idea of starting a nonprofit that provided children with backpacks and school supplies. However, we were both busy with school, work, and fostering children, so we put it on the back-burner.

About a week later, after I had told my mom I was trying to think of ways to make a difference, she came up to me and told me that we were going to be starting the nonprofit. And so, our dream of Be the Hope: Haiti was reborn. We would bring backpacks full of school supplies to underprivileged children in Haiti, making it capable for them to attend school and get an education, the most promising form of change for their suffering country.

Four months later, we have been at numerous local Farmer’s Markets collecting donations, published in the local newspaper on three separate occasions, and even held our first major fundraising event: a children’s carnival. On May 14th, my mom will leave to Haiti for two weeks, bringing along backpacks, school supplies, and clothes that we have collected.

Some people ask me how we have done so much in such a small amount of time – but quite honestly, this is just the beginning of what we plan to do. Hopefully, in six months, we will be 501(c)3 certified and will have traveled to Haiti a second time, bringing backpacks and school supplies with us once again.

To anyone out there who feels as if they can’t make a difference, in the words of Richard Fuller, “never forget that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.” I dare you.