Our Purpose Project

September birthdays, it’s your turn!

Registration is now open for our September Birthday With Purpose celebration on Wednesday, September 9.

Birthday With Purpose is a free monthly celebration for children ages 4–16 experiencing financial hardship, foster or kinship care, housing instability, medical challenges, or other difficult circumstances.

Our birthday children can look forward to gifts, cake and cupcakes, pizza, party favors, music, activities, and a celebration created just for them.

Space is limited and registration is required.
Link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/8h0D5ZZ8MT

Know a family with a September birthday child who could use a little extra celebration this year? Please share this opportunity with them.

Because every child deserves to feel celebrated.

Help Us Congratulate Our 2026 YCS Future Starts Here Scholarship Recipients!

The future starts HERE — and these young scholars are ready for what’s next! We are proud to recognize our 2026 YCS Future Starts Here Scholarship recipients:

🌟 Neshawn Crooms
🌟 Eliana Edouard
🌟 Jean Scott

These students completed the Youth Career Series (YCS) experience and demonstrated the drive, growth, and purpose that this scholarship was created to support as they prepare for their next chapter. But the celebration isn’t over! At

Our scholarship recipients will be formally honored at Our Purpose Project’s inaugural Night of Purpose: A Black Tie Celebration of Purpose, People & Progress. We will be celebrating the Impact of 2026 & Igniting the Purpose of 2027 — a special evening recognizing the students, families, volunteers, partners, staff, and community members who helped make this year possible.

This is more than a scholarship. It’s an investment in what comes next.

Join us in congratulating Neshawn, Eliana, and Jean — our 2026 YCS Future Starts Here Scholarship recipients!

Purpose. People. Progress.

Another Birthday With Purpose celebration is complete! Our Purpose Project had the pleasure of celebrating our August birthday children with an afternoon filled with gifts, pizza, cake, cupcakes, treats, music, laughter, and meaningful moments.

Birthday With Purpose was created with a simple mission: to ensure children experiencing hardship still have the opportunity to feel seen, valued, and celebrated during their birthday month.

Thank you to Target for joining us and supporting our families, and to Sunshine Health for your continued partnership and commitment to helping us make this initiative possible.

A special thank you to Drew, our videographer and photographer, for capturing the moments that tell the story of this work. Our official August Birthday With Purpose video is coming soon, and we look forward to sharing the celebration with our community. We are also grateful for every volunteer, donor, and supporter who continues to help us celebrate children with purpose.

Happy Birthday to our August babies. We’ll see our September birthday children next month!

Back to School Community Day Recap! What an incredible day of community, collaboration, and purpose!

Our Purpose Project, in partnership with Ridgewood Park and Sunshine Health, welcomed and served approximately 250 students and their families during our Pine Hills Back to School Community Day!

Families received backpacks, school supplies, new socks and underwear, shoes, groceries, hygiene essentials, community resources, and more. All designed to help remove barriers and prepare students for a successful school year.

A special thank you to the wonderful staff at Ridgewood Park Elementary for opening their campus and working alongside us, especially Community & Parent Liaison Mrs. Gibbs, the school’s new principal, and Assistant Principal Mr. Campbell.

We are incredibly grateful to the community partners who showed up, shared resources, contributed to the event, and served our families, including:

Sunshine Health • Meyer Medical and Chiropractic • AT&T • Orange County Library System• One More Child • Hensel Phelps Construction Company •Babies, Bellies & Beyond Orange County Health • ZAPZ Network • Innovations Charter School of West Orlando • Rif Elite Academy • Operation HOPE, Inc.

And a huge shoutout to our YCS students who returned to serve their community and earn community service hours. Seeing our young people move from program participants to volunteers is exactly what purpose in action looks like.

We also want to give a very special thank you to our volunteer braiders and stylists who poured their time, talent, and care into our students. Together, they provided 20 children with fresh hairstyles! And when extra hands were needed, even our Executive Director Sandra Cèlan Prevalus rolled up her sleeves and jumped in to assist with hair services!

Special recognition to OPP staff members Yatab Yahawadah, Guynsly Prevalus, & Gaylon D Chatman for your hard work.

Most importantly, thank you to the families who trusted us to serve you. And thank you to every volunteer, donor, sponsor, partner, and team member who stepped up to make sure our community received the support it deserved.

250 students and families. One community. One purpose.

Purpose. People. Progress. 💙

We have so much food & more to give out! Meet us at Ridgewood Park tomorrow!

That’s a wrap! We survived! 😮‍💨🌊

What a way to close out the inaugural Youth Career Series Summer Program with a wave-ing good time at Aquatica!

Thank you to our students, families, volunteers, community partners, and supporters for making this an unforgettable summer. From career exploration and college tours to entrepreneurship, job shadowing, graduation, and one final splash, this cohort made history as our very first YCS Class of y2026.

Have an amazing school year, and we’ll see you all in the spring for more learning, growth, and opportunities!

Purpose. People. Progress.

The countdown is on! After months of planning since April, we’re excited to welcome our community. This Friday, Our Purpose Project is hosting our Pine Hills School Community Day at Ridgewood Park from 10:00 AM–4:00 PM!

All hair service appointments have been filled. Thank you for the overwhelming support! To respect the time of our volunteer barbers and hairstylists, no walk ins will be available. Here’s what families can look forward to… backpacks & school supplies (while supplies last), shoes through our Soles for Purpose program, new socks & underwear, groceries for families, and community resources from our amazing partners. And of course… we’re bringing the fun too! Popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy, face painting, music, giveaways, and more!

One feature we’re especially proud to introduce is our Shoe Promise Card. If a child’s shoe size is unavailable during the event, they’ll be enrolled in our Soles for Purpose program and prioritized for the next available shipment. It’s one way we’re extending support beyond a single day and building lasting solutions for families.

This event would not be possible without the incredible support of our sponsors, community partners, vendors, and volunteers. Thank you for investing in our mission and helping students begin the school year with confidence.

Purpose. People. Progress.

What an unforgettable day!

Our inaugural Youth Career Series (YCS) Graduation Ceremony and Kidpreneur Marketplace were a tremendous success. We are incredibly proud of every student who completed this eight week journey of career exploration, entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal growth.

A heartfelt thank you to our families, community partners, volunteers, elected officials, and supporters who joined us to celebrate our students' achievements. Your encouragement and investment in our youth made this milestone even more meaningful.

Congratulations to our YCS Scholarship Recipients:
🏆 Neshawn Crooms
🏆 Eliana Edouard
🏆 Jean Scott

We also celebrate all of our young entrepreneurs who launched their businesses and experienced the excitement of earning from their own hard work. Their creativity, confidence, and determination were inspiring to witness. The celebration isn't over yet! Tomorrow, our students will conclude the summer with our end of program celebration at Aquatica before officially becoming the Youth Career Series Class of 2026.

Thank you to everyone who believed in this vision and helped make our very first YCS summer program a success. This is only the beginning, and we look forward to continuing to serve youth and families through our upcoming 2027 spring program and summer program. More pictures coming soon!

Important YCS Update

Due to the severe weather forecast and a 90% chance of rain, we have made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow's YCS Kidpreneur Marketplace Pop-Up Shop. While we know this is disappointing, the safety of our students, families, volunteers, and community supporters will always come first.

The good news is that our young entrepreneurs will still have the opportunity to showcase their hard work! We will be incorporating the Kidpreneur Marketplace into our YCS Graduation Celebration on Saturday, August 1.

Our students have spent weeks developing their businesses, learning entrepreneurship, creating products and services, and preparing to present their ideas. We can't wait for our families and community to celebrate and support them during graduation.

We appreciate everyone's flexibility and understanding as we adjust our plans because of the weather. Thank you for continuing to support our students, our volunteers, and the Youth Career Series.

We look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of the YCS Class of 2026 with you this Saturday!

YCS Kidprenuer Marketplace PopUp happening July 30th at 10:30am until 3pm (or we sell out)! Come out and support our students as they worked hard on their business plans, logos, price list, and overall building their very own product and business. We are super proud of our students and team!