Darren Nieves is taking volunteering to a whole new level. The junior at Aubrey Rogers High School in Collier County spends most of his free time organizing charity events and rallying students to join the efforts. He’s run huge events for both Meals of Hope and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He attributes his giving spirit to his parents.
“My parents have always been the first people to help someone in need,” Darren said. “Both my parents came from Puerto Rico and they didn’t come from the top. I have seen them work up the ranks. I have seen how hard they work. I definitely would not be able to do all the things I do without their support.”
His quest to help began last year when a friend was talking about non-profits, and Darren then learned more about non-profits through TikTok.
He started researching various organizations and was impressed by the work done by Meals of Hope and Make-a-Wish. Last year, Darren started a Meals of Hope club at Aubrey Rogers with the goal of rallying students to assist the organization.
“No other school has a club for Meals of Hope,” Darren said. “I planned every event we have done, recruited the volunteers, [and] created a board. I didn’t want this to just be me. I wanted to surround myself with people that can help me.”
Darren began organizing giant packaging days at Aubrey Rogers. More than 150 students and adults filled the cafeteria recently to weigh, sort, and package meals that went to 15 different area food pantries.
“This event packaged over 50,000 meals,” he said. “This is our biggest one.”
Previous events had volunteers packaging 10,000 and then 30,000 meals. Darren hopes to spark other local high schools to organize similar events and would like to put together a packaging competition among the schools.
Make-A-Wish
In January, Darren organized a charity event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation after being inspired by the organization giving a swimming pool to a girl in Cape Coral.
He planned and designed an event called Auctions for Wishes that is expected to raise about $15,000. He even corralled Ferrari, Porsche, and other big names to sponsor the silent auction.
All this takes a lot of time, so sometimes Darren opts to volunteer instead of going to football games or hanging out with his friends. But he says volunteering is just as much fun and much more satisfying.
“This is actually fun,” he exclaimed. “It doesn’t feel like I am working. That is something people don’t realize. They think it is boring, but it is fun. [And] it is a great way of networking.”
Jennifer Adams, a science teacher at Aubrey Rogers, is the group’s advisor.
“I can’t overstate how much he has done for this group, how motivated he is, and how much he cares about what he is doing,” Adams stressed. “He has been the champion for this cause since the very beginning.”
July Vette, Meals of Hope community outreach manager, agrees.
“It is spectacular to see how a student had this initiative to create this club exclusively to help us feed families in need in Southwest Florida,” Vette said. “He has planned and run every event, and every time he brings more and more students to engage in our mission in the community. He is great at communication and organization and motivating other students and has more ideas for marketing and meal packing events.”
Reaching other students
Darren says he gets a lot of his ideas from TikTok.“Through TikTok is how all this really started,” Darren explained. “There are a lot of other people that run their own non-profits, and they tell you ways to market and fundraise. People think TikTok is all about negatives for students. Fortunately for me, things worked in my favor.”
Darren uses social media to gather volunteers and spark interest. An Instagram page he set up has about 400 followers. He uses Facebook and the school website too.
But his most effective recruitment technique is simply interacting with other students. “Today, I walked around the cafeteria and talked to people and I gained 15 people just from that.”
To ensure that his initiatives will continue when he leaves for college, Darren is recruiting younger students and training them to run the organization down the road.
“I want to have the foundation laid here at Aubrey so the current freshmen and sophomores can build on it when I am gone,” Darren explained.
His enthusiasm is infectious and has made it fairly easy for him to convince others to join his efforts.
“It feels great to know you are able to help people,” Darren concluded. “That is the reason for this; to make a difference in people’s lives. You get to see you are making a difference not just for the people getting the food but for the students who are packing the food.”