Project Red—'We are the future of our society, and we can influence others to help'
ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — A group of Round Rock High School students have banded together encouraging peers to help gather resources, volunteers and donations to help the Round Rock homeless community.
Project Red, a student-based non-profit founded in 2021 has over 100 student volunteers and has raised over $10,000 for community outreach and volunteer opportunities.
How it started
Andrew Vu co-founded the organization with his former classmate on a piece of paper in a garage.
“He was like, ‘Hey, Andrew, do you want to help me do this?’ I was real skeptical at first really, really skeptical,” Vu said.
That piece of paper has now grown and helped many students learn how volunteer work can truly make an impact on the community.
“It grew from there exponentially, I saw that his idea was genuine, and I wanted to stay with it, and here we are,” Vu said.
How it’s going
Project Red first began with the goal of helping Ukrainian refugees by gathering supplies and sending care kits. Today, Project Red focuses on underprivileged families and homeless communities around Central Texas.
Semuel Yahng, a two-year member of Project Red said the group works hard to connect with other local organizations to help them gather the resources they need to go out into the communities and make a difference.
“Every Sunday we go out with one of the organizations such as We Can Now Sound Foundation. We give sandwiches, snacks and cooked rice,” Yahng said.
The bigger picture
Aside from making community impacts, Project Red also works to make an impact among its members.
“There’s no one too young to help out, and the only barrier to success is our mindset,” Yahng said.
From elementary and middle school to high school age students, the group encourages them to understand that there are no barriers stopping anyone from making a difference.
“If you have the motivation, the inspiration, you can go out and make a difference. So what we want to do as Project Red is inspire others to be able to go out and help and see that our impact does make a difference,” founding member Aniketh Srigiri said.
The rewarding part
There are prestigious rewards that come with joining organizations like Project Red. Project Red Officer Intern Dhriti Sani has been learning from the founding officers for a year to run the organization when the current officers graduate.
Since the beginning of her internship to now, Sani has gained enough experience and knowledge to be awarded a service award from the United States President.
“This is a presidential service award that is given by the President. Recently Project Red has been giving out these PBSAs, and through my volunteering services, I was able to save up around 100 hours to get this award,” Sani said.
2025 Goals
Project Red’s goals for the 2025 year are to have 200 members, raise more funds for donations and reach more young minds to introduce them to the work of community outreach.
“There are three things that you can do to help out those in need. Number one, gather resources. Number two, gather volunteers. Number three, delivering the resources with those volunteers. That’s something no one does,” Vu said.
How to get involved
To join Project Red or for any volunteer and member questions visit their website or follow the project on their social media.
