Established in 2020
This program was originally created as a branch-off project from a volunteer department at a local San Jose hospital. The volunteers worked together in a hospitality and patient advocacy volunteer program in the hospital to improve patient morale and ensure all patient needs were met. This program evolved into several programs aiming to help unhoused patients stay healthy once leaving the hospital. These programs include a clothes' closet for discharged patients without adequate clothing for the weather and a menstural supply project to provide free feminine hygiene products to low-income, biologically female patients. The volunteers started donating unused supplies from their hospital that had to be thrown away due to regulations to a local food bank. Hope Hearted was created in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to provide more donations to underfunded Bay Area shelters and food banks. We have since expanded to locations across California.
Our Mission
Hope Hearted aims to provide 10,000 basic medical and sanitary supply kits to California shelters and food banks by the end of 2022. We are working hard to fundraise and build kits for struggling populations across the Bay Area and Southern California, whom have been hit worst by the pandemic. We hope to bridge the access gap between unhoused/low-income populations and the rest of the community, to ensure everyone has access to sanitary supplies to keep themselves and their families safe.
Our Team
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Asavari Gowda
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Asavari began volunteering the summer before going into the seventh grade at her local food bank. Since then she has developed a strong passion for community service and healthcare by getting involved with other humanitarian organizations in her community. During her freshman year in high school, she began volunteering at a local San Jose hospital, which is where she got involved with the Sunshine Cart, a volunteer-run hospitality program for the patients. After noticing that many basic medical supplies were being thrown out due to regulations despite being in usable condition, Asavari worked with the materials department to donate the supplies at the same local food bank. Almost a year later, she teamed up with Chloe, Quynh, and Heather to turn that project into a nonprofit, now known as Hope Hearted! Asavari is now a sophomore majoring in Biology at Siena College, and will later study medicine at Albany Medical College.
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Quynh Nguyen
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Quynh joined the hospital volunteer program as a sophomore in high school, and was deeply moved by the patients she helped. When Chloe left for college, Quynh eagerly stepped up to lead the program. Inspired to further help the unhoused population, Quynh started a menstrual supply project that provided hygienic necessities for unhoused women. As a biology major at University of California Los Angeles, Quynh plans on going into dentistry.
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Chloe Duckworth
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As a freshman in high school, Chloe founded the original volunteer program at a local Bay Area hospital called the Sunshine Cart, a hospitality and patient advocacy program that visited patients throughout the hospital. Over her four years as lead volunteer, she trained many other high school students to join her team, including Asavari and Quynh. She pioneered many special projects to help unhoused patients at the hospital, including a clothes closet to ensure no patient had to be discharged in a hospital gown. Now a senior at University of Southern California studying computational neuroscience, Chloe aims to build a career around the intersection of neuroscience, medicine, and technology to help humanity on a large scale.
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Heather Duckworth
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Heather began working at a special needs daycare center to help care for the special needs community in San Jose as a high school sophomore. She continued to volunteer there as she founded the Mini Mermaids Dancing Club, a nonprofit based on instilling confidence in young girls through dance. Heather became involved in Hope Hearted through her sister, Chloe, as a way to further her support for those in need and fulfill her desire to better her community. Heather is a sophomore at University of California Los Angeles, majoring in economics.
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