Published On: Fri, Feb 10th, 2017

Local 17-Year-Old Uses Grant to End Hunger

By: Nikki Colonna

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Photos by: Debbie Leifert

On Sunday, February 5, a junior at Pinecrest High School reached out to the community to help him on his mission to end hunger in Boca Raton. Isaac Leifert, 17, invited elementary school students to join him and his classmates at the B’nai Torah Congregation to plant miniature gardens of fresh foods to donate to the SOS Children’s Foster Care Village.  

Leifert realized that many people are suffering from hunger in Boca Raton and took it upon himself to help. Working with his parents, and his school, as well as different charities, Leifert came up with the idea of planting gardens to donate food to those in need.

Youth Service America (YSA) and Disney’s Friends for Change rewarded Leifert a $500 grant to turn his idea into a reality. His intention is to educate, encourage and inspire the young kids of our community that it does not take much to make an impact.

“It feels great [to make an impact] and I figured if I have the opportunity to make a difference, why not?”, said Leifert.

His mother, Debbie Leifert, is his biggest supporter and plays a huge role in the initiative Isaac is trying to spread. The support of his family, classmates, sponsors and his principal meant everything in his road to a successful event.

“What Isaac is doing for the community is amazing,” said David Clark, Principal of Pinecrest School. “For him to take the time to spend outside of school, with his busy academic schedule and extracurricular activities, is phenomenal.”

“We are so proud of him as a school and I can’t wait to see the many more grounds he has to reach,” added Clark.

In order for his movement to move forward, Leifert plans to reach out locally as much as he can to host similar events in order to spread the word. Leifert and his brother, Ethan created their own business called ‘Lift Off’ with the aim to help out others who want to get involved with the community and work to promote their public image.

“It is not just a one and done movement. After this event, I encourage the community to do events similar to this,” added Leifert. “Anyone can do a food drive, but then you get a lot of canned foods but not a lot of fresh foods. [People] should take things that are already there and then make them have a new spin and that way we can make a bigger difference.”

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