10-year Old Collects Goods for Recycling and Donates 25% to Help Homeless Kids

Strombo. January 30, 2013. (English). -Fair warning: this story might make you feel a little bit bad about yourself. After all, you probably didn’t start a recycling business when you were seven years old, and get called in front of your city council to talk about it when you were ten, unlike this kid, who did both of those things.

Three years ago on Earth Day, seven-year-old Vanis Buckholz’s elementary school class in Corona del Mar, California learned about how important recycling is. He went home and told his parents that he wanted to help people in his community recycle more often.

To that end, he got on his bike and started collecting recyclable goods that people had thrown away. He called his fledgling business My ReCycler.

“The idea for my business came from ‘cycling’ and riding my scooter around town picking up trash on our beach, streets and parks then hauling it home to recycle,” Vanis says on his website. “My mom and dad taught me to never pollute so picking up trash was something we always did but now it’s a part of the business.”

He’s been in business for three years so far. Vanis is ten now, and a few days ago he was honoured by the Newport Beach California City Council, who invited him to address a meeting and explain what he does.

Check out video of his presentation below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39hyEumu58]

In his introduction, Mayor Keith Curry says “Newport Beach is the home of some great entrepreneurs, and the one tonight is a particularly young, but I think outstanding entrepreneur.”

And how’s this for outstanding: Vanis’ business is profitable, and he’s decided to donate a portion of his profits to Project Hope Alliance, an organization that works to end homelessness among children in Orange County, California.

Vanis donates 25 per cent of everything he makes to the Alliance.

A statement on their website says that Vanis “knows that every child in Orange County deserves an education and a safe place to call home. Vanis is doing his part to make that a reality for the 28,000 homeless children in Orange County. Kids matter. Thank you Vanis for being you.”