TOWAMENCIN – As mere teenagers, most high school students feel that they are too small a force to make a real difference in the world around them. Volunteer work is seen as a nice thing to do, of course, but taking the initiative to launch a full-scale community service project is often seen as too daunting a task for most teens to tackle. But Emily Adelsberger is not most teens: by creating the Love Your Brother Project and raising over $10,000 worth of school supplies and donations for Bayard Taylor Elementary, a school in Philadelphia struggling with over $350,000 in budget cuts, Adelsberger proved that you don’t need to be a “higher-up” in position or age to make a genuinely positive impact on the people who need it most.

The project began when Adelsberger’s uncle introduced her to Bayard Taylor’s Principal Drossner, who, on top of struggling with the stress of keeping her school afloat despite six-figure budget cuts, was battling breast cancer and an impending surgery. Inspired to help, Adelsberger and her friend Madie Tanis began collecting boxes to distribute to the North Penn classrooms and spreading the word about their initiative.

Explaining her reasoning for beginning the project, Adelsberger reflected on how lucky she and her fellow classmates have been to have the opportunities they do.

“I loved my experience at Walton Farm, and seeing Bayard Taylor made me realize how lucky I was to have gone to such a fortunate school,” she said. “I had taken that for granted for my whole life…I bet most of [the students at North Penn] don’t realize that kids living thirty minutes away from us don’t even have paint for art class, or enough paper to have worksheets, or enough money to buy new pencils when the old ones get too short.”

Students from all North Penn schools were encouraged to donate new or gently-used school supplies, art supplies, and sports equipment in boxes distributed to every classroom. Many teachers and organizations offered service hours or extra credit to students who donated, but Adelsberger stressed that students should be focusing on the benevolence of their actions rather than the personal gains.

“Some students got KEY club hours for donating; others got extra credit, and I don’t see why more people didn’t contribute just for the sake of recognizing that people, kids, out there need our help and that every donation can make a difference…I think getting involved in community service is awesome. The experience I had not only opened my eyes, making me more grateful for what I have at home, but it was genuinely a lot of fun.”

Even with this focus on others, Adelsberger and Tanis found that their efforts certainly benefitted their own lives in addition. Their efforts strengthened their friendship as well as their leadership and public speaking skills, providing them with an opportunity to feel good knowing that they had done something good in the world and had fun while doing so.

“I think projects like this are really beneficial for not only those who are receiving donations, but also for those giving them,” said Adelsberger. “Everybody needs a wakeup call once in a while to remind them that we live in a big world, and not everything revolves around us. As teenagers I think sometimes we forget that because we’re so worried about our grades and our friends. While we’re busy worrying about all that there are kids in Philadelphia dropping out of school or struggling to find money to buy new notebooks and a new backpack. Everything we can do can make an impact, whether it means giving those kids new school supplies and a basketball to play with at recess; or it means making a child’s experience better at school, encouraging them to stay in school or giving them the opportunity to develop their creativity in art class.”