WFU students, high schoolers win mini-grants for community service

Wake Forest student Victor Ringheanu wants everyone to have access to healthy food. So last year, he and one of his fraternity brothers began cooking and selling barbecue plates to raise money for donations to Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina. 

This year, thanks to a $500 mini-grant from the Youth Engagement Coalition (YEC), which comprises Wake Forest University, HandsOn NWNC and Forsyth County Young Leaders Program, Ringheanu and Patrick Carlson can provide more canned goods and other items to Second Harvest with money raised by their business, R.C. Barbecue.

Four Wake Forest students and two Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools students were awarded mini-grants of $500 or $1,000 from YEC, which aims to increase youth service engagement in Winston-Salem. Winners were notified last month, received their money this month and have until June 30 to complete their projects.

Victor Ringheanu

“Last year our fraternity partnered with Feeding America,” said Ringheanu, a junior chemistry major from Harlingen, Texas. “We organized a campus-wide food drive and fundraiser for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina that raised $3,000, which we used to purchase more than 500 pounds of food and toiletry items. Patrick and I were inspired by that and created R.C. Barbecue, which now has received a grant that we’ll use to donate even more money to Second Harvest this year.”

Camry Wilborn-Mercer, assistant director for community partnerships in the Office of Civic & Community Engagement (OCCE), said she’s excited over the projects students plan to complete this year – and the grant amounts.

“This year’s projects address food insecurity, accessible healthcare and an interactive curriculum for science in the Diggs-Latham Elementary School garden, among other things,” Wilborn-Mercer said. “When we first offered mini-grants they were $250 each, but this year the Youth Engagement Coalition has increased the amounts, which heightens the community impact the students can have.”

Lauren Recto

Lauren Recto, a sophomore psychology major from Manhattan, New York, read about the mini-grants in the OCCE newsletter. She volunteers with Imprints Cares, an early childhood education nonprofit that supports children and families from prenatal through middle school, and is partnering with them on her project.

“I’m working on organizing a STEM-themed field trip for girls,” Recto said. “My original plan was to have girls, who are considered at-risk of not completing school, come to Wake Forest for a day and interact with Wake professors. I’m also thinking about taking them to the aquarium in Greensboro, and I might do both. I didn’t expect to get a $1,000 grant, and of course I’m very grateful.”

Recto is passionate about helping others, particularly young kids.

“In high school I did a lot of projects where I organized things for elementary and middle school kids,” she said. “It’s always been a part of my life. I plan to ask some of my Wake classmates who are majoring in a STEM discipline to assist me with my project.”

Ella-Brooke Morgan

West Forsyth High School junior Ella-Brooke Morgan won a $500 mini-grant and plans to put on a “VIP Treatment Event” for students in conjunction with a/perture cinema and Innovation Quarter. Students will be treated to an outdoor movie, with themes around inclusivity, perseverance and inspiration. Priority seating will be given to students who’ve shown exceptional improvement in subjects they’ve struggled with – but all attendees will be recognized that day, she said.

“We’re still deciding on a date, but we’re hoping for it to be toward the end of the school year so it’ll be nice outside and a lot of end-of-the-year testing will be completed or winding down,” Morgan said. “I wanted to do this because COVID has had a really big impact on education, but its impact on mental health has been drastic as well. We hope to address the social-emotional needs of our students by hosting a fun, social event.”

Morgan applied for a grant under the name of her organization, ViP Tutoring and Peer Guides Program, which serves Forsyth County. She commended Wake Forest and the other YEC members for providing the grants.

“I think they offer a wonderful opportunity for students who are looking to start projects but don’t have the funding to do so,” she said. “I was elated when I found out I had been chosen because I can just visualize seeing smiles on the students’ faces.”