• Name: Talia
• Age: 12
• Activity: Started her own organization to rally kids across the country to help in their communities
• Honorable-mention award: Nicki Fleming’s Whole World Collection
• Nominated by: Her mother, Diana

Talia founded and operates her own non-profit organization for real kids called “RandomKid,” with the tagline “The Power of ANYone.” Her mission is to mobilize kids to help others through highly motivating, empowering initiatives.

Talia once commented that “each act may seem like only one little drop in the ocean, but the whole ocean is made up of little drops.”

Kids nationwide e-mail her through her Web site, and she actively supports them by developing charitable projects and selling products online that the kids design, all to benefit others. She speaks in schools, leads assemblies that celebrate the successes of the kids she helps, and packages and ships the kids’ merchandise.

Talia’s most successful project through her organization raised $10 million for hurricane relief from kids nationwide. Talia’s contribution to that total was $226,000, inspired through her trick-or-treat campaign that requested coins instead of candy.

In April 2006, she established the “RandomKid National Task Force to Rebuild the Gulf”. She leads this task force of eight kids from across the nation who develop projects every few months to keep the effort going. Having raised $35,300 to date, the task force is currently selling house-shaped, aluminum key chains that Talia designed, funded, and had manufactured. At Talia’s urging, 517 retail stores in 23 states have signed on to carry her product this year, committing several hundred thousand dollars to her rebuilding efforts.

Talia’s primary message is for other kids to know that she’s a real girl, like any other girl—thus the name “RandomKid.” She hopes that by knowing this they will recognize their power to make a difference. “Each act may seem like only one little drop in the ocean,” Talia once commented, “but the whole ocean is made up of little drops.”