By Jill Venditti

At Westborough High School, AJ Nowak, a sophomore, along with his friends and family have reached out to the community and to many kids of the Northeast area. He created a club to reach out to children with birth defects. The charity this club raises money for helps diagnose infants and children who have physical, intellectual, or genetic disorders.

The club that he created is called The Genesis Foundation for Kids with Birth Defects. Nowak explains that he created the club after doing volunteer work for the charity The Genesis Foundation for Children and seeing how much of an impact it had on the lives of the children they were helping. When he was volunteering, he helped run fundraisers, met patients, and talked with the doctors who treated them. He wants to earn money and promote awareness to help and support the children with birth defects in the Northeast area. Nowak states, “It will make a big difference in the community and the lives of children with birth defects.”

Those of whom who have signed up try to get involved in the meetings and to help out with whatever they can. Nowak has many goals for his club, but his main one is to make a difference, “if everyone committed and worked hard we can change the lives of children by helping them to the best of our ability and giving them a chance to maximize their potential. People don’t realize the impact they can have on their community but to really try to help is a big deal to any little girl or boy who really needs it.”

The goal for this year is to raise money and awareness through fundraisers, announcements, and signs. The first club meeting was held on September 16^th, right after school for ten to fifteen minutes and discussed future events such as a car wash, a dog wash, a Halloween bake sale, and a glow run. The people involved in the club were already asked to rally their ideas and come up with some more good events to help raise money.

There are 90 people already involved in the club but adding more to the list is always welcomed and appreciated. He would like to see more upperclassmen get involved and make the club well-rounded and diverse. Nowak explained that the time spent working in the club also counts as community service hours. Those of whom who have signed up try to get involved in the meetings and to help out with whatever they can. People can get involved by emailing AJ Nowak at [email protected] . Nowak’s goal for the year is to raise $10,000. The meetings are every other Tuesday right after school.