PEARLAND, Texas — Some Pearland teens are delivering a lesson in service. They're studying and taking A.P. exams while also helping fellow Texans.
Shadow Creek High School students Nikil Vijayan, Viren Govin, Ahmed Alcassab and Savindu Wimalasooriya created the free delivery service: Teens 4 Help.
"In school, most of us are members of N.H.S., National Honor Society, or student council," Vijayan said. "And the one thing we learned from there is a service tenant. Where we go out and we’re always volunteering to help other people."
But these days, you can get just about anything delivered, including groceries. Businesses are also offering curbside service and shipping discounts. So why the need for Teens 4 Help?
"But the issue with those was that they were heavily back-logged for one to two weeks," Wimalasooriya said. "And we realized that the people who really need some goods during that time period could not get access to it without putting themselves at risk."
So these high school friends are offering to do the shopping for their Shadow Creek neighbors whose help may be too compromised to go out in public. They're also willing to help single parents.
Neighbors place their orders online. If the boys receive the order before 5 p.m. they can likely fill it that day.
FOR MORE INFO EMAIL: Teen4help@gmail.com
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT "TEENS 4 HELP" CLICK HERE
If an item is limited by quantity or unavailable, they will text the customers and suggest another option. The teens pay for everything upfront. Neighbors then reimburse them, for the bill, through contact-less pay apps like Venmo, Paypal or CashApp.
"Last Saturday was our most hectic day," Vijayan said. "We got five orders in one day. Just back to back to back."
The teens are hoping more classmates or neighbors will step up and volunteer their time to help because the boys plan to offer their delivery service through the summer.
"We would love it if anyone at any age was able to help us," Wimalasooriya said.
"What we really want to do is connect with those people that really can’t go out," Vijayan said. "And we want to make sure that we can help them."
Some Texas teens are moved to serve, by meeting their neighbors exactly where they are.
KHOU Reporter Melissa Correa learned about this story from a news tip shared with her on Nextdoor. To connect with Melissa on Nextdoor, click here.
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