{"id":1104,"date":"2015-11-10T00:02:12","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents.com\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2015-11-23T11:06:41","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T16:06:41","slug":"these-teens-are-changing-the-world-needs-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/these-teens-are-changing-the-world-needs-images\/","title":{"rendered":"These Teens are Changing the World and Inspiring Others to Take Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plans for the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HALO Awards <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are in full swing as the stage is set\u00a0for the event that<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recognizes real-life kids who are doing extraordinary things in their communities. And this year\u2019s honorees are really something special:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"599\" height=\"337\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wKkp73v_Dd4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Ethan Cruikshank, 16, Mechanicsville, VA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;A guitar player since age seven, Ethan was inspired to start <a href=\"http:\/\/www.musictomyearshanover.org\/\">Music to My Ears<\/a> after his school cut music-education funding. Since then, Ethan\u2019s music program has helped over 100 kids across four states by providing free music lessons through volunteer teachers and distributing instruments to those who can\u2019t afford them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Riley Gantt, 15, Sherman Oaks, CA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;Riley\u2019s organization, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rainbowpack.org\/\">Rainbow Pack<\/a>, was born out of her desire to provide kids with the supplies they need to do their homework and be successful learners, regardless of their economic circumstances. Raising money through fundraising, grants, social media, and school supply-drives, she has successfully donated over 9,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to kids in the Los Angeles area.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Joshua Williams, 14, Miami Beach, Fla.<\/strong>&#8211;Joshua Williams\u2019 commitment to eradicate hunger started with a roadside donation to a starving man when he was four and a half years old. Through the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/joshuasheart.org\/\">Joshua\u2019s Heart Foundation<\/a>, he\u00a0designed a food distribution system in local churches, schools and community centers, and continues to raise awareness of hunger and poverty\u00a0at speaking engagements.\u00a0 He has distributed over 1.1 million pounds of food in south Florida, Jamaica and Africa to date, and helped feed over 50,000 people nationwide.<\/li>\n<li><b>Ruchita Zaparde, 18, Plainsboro, NJ<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211;After a family trip to India exposed Ruchita Zaparde to the plight of widows, she started <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sewafuture.org\/\">Sew A Future<\/a> to help them achieve financial stability by becoming seamstresses. Zaparde <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">identifies widows<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in need in India, delivers sewing machines and supplies, and connects the recipients to fundraisers. Over 200 families have risen out of poverty with the gift of a sewing machine, thanks to the fundraising efforts of over 1,400 students in 30 states.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tune in to the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HALO Awards<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and join us as we celebrate Ethan, Riley, Joshua, and Ruchita and their <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">amazing <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">achievements on <\/span><b>Sunday, November 29 at 7 PM (ET\/PT)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plans for the HALO Awards are in full swing as the stage is set\u00a0for the event that recognizes real-life kids who are doing extraordinary things in their communities. And this year\u2019s honorees are really something special: Ethan Cruikshank, 16, Mechanicsville, VA&#8211;A guitar player since age seven, Ethan was inspired to start Music to My Ears [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[100,98,77,99,101],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1104"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1129,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104\/revisions\/1129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickelodeonparents-q.mtvi.com\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}