04 HEARTS TO HEROES

TEAM: Haley Chan, Amanda Wu, Armita Mirkarimi, Mahmoud Ali, Cailyx Quan, Lana Ramadan, Swathi Jagadeesan

ROLE: Co-Founder, Communications Director

In April of 2020, COVID-19 cases skyrocketed as healthcare personnel and essential workers were forced to work long, demanding hours amid a nationwide PPE shortage that left them vulnerable to the infectious disease that packed ICUs, shut down businesses, and kept us in our homes feeling helpless to it all.

After searching for tangible ways to make an impact, two friends and I realized that crucial frontiers in the fight against COVID-19 included the sourcing and distribution of PPE as well as the mental battle essential workers endured in the face of the pandemic.

After a few late nights of brainstorming, we started a COVID-safe, drive-through volunteer system that allowed teens like ourselves to help us assemble 3D-printed face shields, assemble care packages, write cards, and make posters for local healthcare and essential workers. As the reach of our project grew, we filed all foundational processes with the IRS, Secretary of State, and Attorney General to establish Hearts to Heroes, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to giving back and showing appreciation to the heroes that kept our community running. We fundraised by crowdfunding, cold calling local businesses, and applying for corporate grants in order to get our organization off the ground.





To date, Hearts to Heroes has donated over 46,000 units of PPE, 2,900 care packages, and 2,000 cards to essential workers across Southern California as our small team of three has grown into a network of over 200 volunteers from all over Orange County.

With PPE more easily accessible and COVID restrictions more lenient, we’ve expanded to place more of an emphasis on community wellness, holding a total of 3 food drives amounting to over 500 items donated, assembling and distributing meal packages to low-income families through the OC Food Bank, and assembling hygiene care packages for homeless shelters in our area as Hearts to Heroes enters its third year of operation.

As the Communications Director and one of the Co-Founders of the organization, I played a large part in designing and producing promotional materials such as brochures, social media graphics, posters, and videos, especially in the beginning stages of the organization. I also helped design the Hearts to Heroes website (my first experience with web design!) and led the production of many episodes of our podcast, “The Essential”, which was dedicated to sharing the stories of the people and the communities that are essential to our well-being.

Listen to our podcast! 

I co-led the research, scripting, recording, and editing of this two-part episode in which we talk about and educate ourselves on food insecurity in America, talk about some of our own experiences with food insecurity, and interview Jacqueline Gaithe from the Orange County Food Bank.