Nonprofit Learn4Justice, an organization dedicated to aiding underprivileged students, hosted a table at the Cupertino Library to make school kits for underserved kids on Friday, Jan. 23 from 4 to 5 p.m. The event featured a table with social justice-related books alongside a section for making school supply kits. Learn4Justice members directed kid volunteers from the Cupertino Library to organize paint kits, colorful pens, pencils and personal messages into pencil bags to Attendees made over 150 kits , and the organization plans to distribute them to multiple schools.
Learn4Justice Co-Executive Director and senior at Notre Dame High School Akshadha Babu explains that planning for the event required pitching the idea to the Cupertino Library for approval. The organization also received a $500 grant from the Hershey Youth Change Makers award to buy the school supplies for the underfunded schools.
“The first thing that came to mind was stationery supplies,” Babu said. “Not a lot of schools have those. We’re going to give students stationery supplies, and they’re going to package it. But we also have social justice-related books here. This is like a two-part event. Kids are supposed to come by, make the packages, look at the books and get an idea of social justice.”
Babu plans for these kits to be received by 150 students across multiple schools throughout the Bay Area. Learn4Justice President and senior at Notre Dame High School Richa Prassana explains that the organization encourages children to learn about crucial life skills in a “justice-oriented lens,” which lies at the core of the organization’s mission.
“I think instilling these values in these kids at a young age and getting them curious about speaking, getting them curious about things like writing, is really the key towards creating a better society,” Prassana said. “They’ve gotten a lot more interested in making an impact on the community, and that’s really what this is all about.”
Prassana explains that Learn4Justice has expanded its curriculum into various different fields. Originally focused on high school speech and debate clubs, the organization has since incorporated journalism, coding and biology. She says that each of these topics are then connected to real-world issues such as climate change and gender equality in the curriculum. While she acknowledges the impact Learn4Justice has made, she emphasizes that there is work still to be done.
“We’re trying to do other ambitious things,” Prassana said. “We’re trying to work on a food insecurity project as well and connect it to different things. But at the end of the day, the heart is still the same. I’m just trying to keep this going until I graduate. Then soon, I’ll act as a mentor to other people who take over the organization.”
