In 2015, 11-year-old Kenan Pala had an influential experience which sparked the idea for a nonprofit that has raised well over half a million dollars for homelessness initiatives in San Diego. Pala and his father went on a run at the beach, where they encountered a sick baby seal. There were many people surrounding the seal and attempting to care for it, giving it blankets and calling shelters. Then on the drive home from the beach, Pala and his father passed a homeless man who clearly needed help; however, no one seemed to care, and everyone walked or drove past the man as if he was completely invisible. It was this stark comparison between the baby seal and the homeless man that sparked Pala’s passion for homelessness and drove him to starting Kids4Community, a nonprofit that partners with local organizations to get kids involved with volunteer work early on and helps kids to help the community.
Pala is an incredibly driven young man, who possesses traits and skills, such as passion, determination, and a strong work ethic, that have aided him as an entrepreneur. His realization for his passion for homelessness was a realization that led him to develop a unique business that not only works to solve homelessness, but also builds a community of youth in the process. Running Kids4Community while also juggling the time commitments of school and cross-country took a great deal of determination on his part. He works hard in all three of these areas and is thriving in all of them, with Kids4Community growing and expanding to other regions of California and his running efforts resulting in him running cross country in college.
Overall, Kenan Pala is a very inspiring young entrepreneur who has used his passions and skills to make a lasting impact on the San Diego community.
To learn more about Kids4Community and the work that Kenan is doing, visit the website here.
Hey Sarah, I really enjoyed reading your post! It has such an interesting story, how Kenan saw the stark contrast of the care for the seal and the homeless man. Kenan doing this beautiful work and having to maintain consistency with athletics and school is so inspiring, I am so impressed. Great job!
I enjoyed visiting Kenan’s website. Wow! A lot has come of his realization that people cared more about a baby seal than a homeless man. I have thought about this in terms of pre-born babies. People care more about saving the eagles, or even kittens or puppies, than they do about a human being.
I saw in the pictures that adults and kids work together on so many different programs. That is awesome! It is really exiting to see people caring about others in their local community and doing something about it. So often we see needs, but feel helpless to do anything as the problem is so large. It is awesome that Kenan’s family didn’t just see the need, but really stepped up and are making a difference.
Hey Sarah, I genuinely found this to be a very informative and inspiring post. I can see why you’d be inspired as well to go into non-profit work because of people like Kenan. This was a well written piece, good job!