Five Questions with Kendall Ciesemier, Founder of Kids Caring 4 Kids

Kendall Ciesemier runs cross country, is on student council, writes for the school newspaper, and founded Kids Caring 4 Kids to help needy kids in Africa. Did we mention she's only 16?

YOU STARTED THE NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION KIDS CARING 4 KIDS WHEN YOU WERE ONLY 11 YEARS OLD. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO START THIS?

"I had watched an Oprah Winfrey special back in December of 2003 about kids taking care of their younger brothers and sisters because their parents both had AIDS. I was just in awe of them. I watched my parents take care of me, because I have a rare liver disease, and I just couldn't imagine having both of your parents sick while taking care of four brothers and sisters all while living in poverty. That night I went upstairs to my computer and searched "AIDS orphans in Africa" and found the charity World Division. They had a sponsorship program where you can adopt an orphan for $360 a year, so I got together all my saved up birthday and Christmas money and went upstairs to ask my parents for a stamp. I told them what I wanted to do and after we talked about it for a while they let me sponsor a child. I got a letter back from the kid I adopted and when I realized how much I had helped it kind of evolved from there."

"That summer I knew I was going to be getting a liver transplant and a friend of the family told me about a kid who was in the hospital for a period of time and instead of receiving gifts like teddy bears, he asked for donations to a charity he supported. With the help of World Vision I got to sponsor a whole community in Zambia during my hospital stay. They had an annual budget of $60,000 so that was my initial goal. By the end of the summer I had a second transplant and raised over $15,000. I decided this was something I wanted to keep doing, so KC4K started."

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF KC4K?

"What we do is go out and speak to groups to inspire them to care for others in need. We empower them with our "I Care 2 Care Kids" so they can go out and make their own Kids Caring 4 Kids fundraiser and build their own story. Any other kid can do this, and we are going to help them. It's about getting kids to care about other kids, while at the same time raising money for needy kids in Africa."

"We hand pick the projects we want to give the money that we raise to, which is really cool. It's great to know where your money is going and see how it will help." (cosmogirl.com)