Simone and Jake Bernstein, and brother and sister duo created the company VolunTEEN. The two siblings were very active volunteers in their community and kept running into the same problem everywhere they went. They knew of kids that wanted to volunteer and help their community and they knew of places that greatly needed help, but there was a disconnect. There was no bridge between the active youth and the places that needed volunteers, so the Bernstein’s set out to build one. They first focused on helping locally in their home town of St. Louis and now with VolunTEEN nation they expanded it across the Country. Jake spoke about how as a teen he wanted to volunteer but at some times was forced to. He referenced college applications and resumes require a lot of extracurricular activities and volunteering helped the applicants stand out. For people who aren’t already in the volunteering world, never had experience, don’t know where to start, or don’t know the requirements, finding a place to get some hours can be a real challenge. Some locations require you to be a certain age, to have a certain amount of experience or availability and that is that VolunTEEN nation is trying simplify.

They created the website of locations that don’t require age limits nad are in need of help to try and get the names out there. The siblings said that I cost them a grand total of $48 to get the domain and website going. (today they said it would have cost them 99 cents to start it) This idea that cost them under $50earned them many awards and titles. Jake and Simone were recently recognized by Forbes magazine as top “30 under 30” social entrepreneurs. “Simone Bernstein was given the Jaffe Award, named one of Traditional Home’s Classic Women, one of the 2013 Glamour Top 10 College Women, 2010 L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth, January 2011 Huffington Post Person of the Day.” Their sister, Sophie has received multiple grants from organizations across the Country to plant gardens, harvest the plants, and deliver that fresh produce to local food banks to help feed the hungry. Sophie got into the business after it was set up but is now the President of VolunTEEN Nation and Go Healthy St. Louis.

When asked to give young entreprenuers advice in starting their own venture, this is what Jake had to say, “We are so thankful for the assistance we have received in growing VolunTEEN Nation.   You don’t need to have any coding skills or money to set up a website: hosting discounts and free web templates give everyone the chance to publish something online. Additionally, social media can be your friend in making professional connections — use it.”