Orange County

OC Teen Gives Free Supplies Secretly to Students Who Can't Afford Them

A 13-year-old girl is making sure kids at her former elementary school have access to supplies that will help their confidence going back to school.

Back to school season is in full swing and while many teenagers are preoccupied with what types of fashion they want, one teenager is concerned with what her classmates will need.

Hannah Karanick is a 13-year-old Orange County native. Her parents are pastors, and Krananick grew up in a home with 12 foster siblings.

"We kind of grew up helping people and being really compassionate towards others," Karanick said. "I think with having 12 siblings, we realized that when we help people, their confidence level goes up."

After seeing a boy in her class get bullied for wearing the same clothes to school every day, Karanick started gathering backpacks, clothes, and hygiene supplies and storing them in a small office at her former elementary school. With the help of an assigned teacher, students can access the office anonymously. Today, she packs freezer bags full of hygiene supplies for kids at her former elementary school, with the help of her friends, family, and cheerleading squad.

"It is not a school priority to provide all of those resources, simply because we don't have funding for that," Dr. Sue Johnson, Savanna School District Superintendent, said. "We have funding for the instructional program."

While Johnson believes it is a priority to provide a safe learning environment for children in the school district, what Hannah's project provides is social and emotional support. This comes from having access to hygiene products and school supplies given to children free of charge that help them fit in and feel confident. She says the extra funding needed for the school district to provide these supplies would challenge the system.

"The school budget is only so large, and we can only do so much with the money we have," Johnson said. "I think Hannah has found that niche to be able to be able to fill what she sees as needs in our community. And we're really grateful for that."

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The project, called Hannah's Helpful Hands, hasn't gone unnoticed by Hannah's teachers and former principal. 

"I got to share the closet with a student -- he was just a little second grader who didn't have some of those supplies," said Erin Helenihi, Principal at Twila Reid Elementary School. "He was like 'yes!' - it was the cutest."

Helenihi said that she has seen firsthand both students and parents who are relieved that they have access to the supplies Hannah's project provides.

The project is primarily funded by Hannah, her family, and her GoFundMe page. She has raised more than $5,000 since GoFundMe recently named her one of the websites official "Kid Heroes." 

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