Northern Virginia teens' charity gets a boost from Disney Dreamers Academy
WASHINGTON — For the Venkat sisters the dream is in motion.
"I know there’s a lot of negativity around him right now. 'Oh my God the world is ending.' We don’t want to spread that. We want to spread,'Oh it’s okay. Things will get better if we just keep being kind to each other,'" said 17-year-old Shreyaa Venkat.
Shreyaa and Esha are pushing out that sentiment through their non-profit NEST4US. Every year the Broad Run High School students pack hundreds of blessing bags for the homeless that each contains an inspirational note.
What the teens are doing to help the less fortunate isn’t stopping in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. Although their outreach is smaller the movement of support continues and just got a boost from Disney.
"I felt like it would be a great way to jumpstart Nest and focus on my dream which is expanding Nest," said Esha.
The 14-year-old is one of 100 students selected from around the country to attend the Disney Dreamers Academy. The mentoring program is designed to assist young people in fulfilling their dreams.
"There’s a lot of industry experts in the field who would help me give me advice on how to practice our pitch structure, know how to talk to corporate professionals so that we could get funding and other help from other businesses," Esha said.
The all-expenses-paid trip offered career workshops and seminars led by business experts.
Esha told ABC7 News,"They were just really supportive and so inspiring and I was so thankful to be able to meet them."
A three-day experience that helped Esha gain the business skills she and her sister need to continue moving NEST to success.
One student from Maryland and three other students from Virginia were also selected to attend the Disney Dreamers Academy.
