Photos courtesy of Students Rebuild.
July 6, 2026: Through the Students Rebuild initiatives, students are using their creativity to raise money for those in need.
Since 2010, Students Rebuild has helped raised more than $13 million to support various global causes. Touted as a youth program, the initiative was launched by the Bezos Family Foundation as a means to support those affected by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Since then, nearly 1.5 million students across the country and worldwide have loaned their ambition, vision, and empathy to those who need it most.
In 2024, Creative Visions — an organization created by the surviving family of Reuters photojournalist Dan Eldon, who was killed in 1993 while covering a story about the Somalia conflict — officially became the homebase for Students Rebuild. With a new home and greater reach, the art-centered initiative has blossomed into one of the greatest examples of intentional aid in recent years.
For every piece of creative expression or youth engaged, Students Rebuild makes a $5 donation to the selected organizations. Creative Visions, with the support of the Bezos Family Foundation, donates based on those submissions. This approach ensures that youth from all backgrounds and countries can contribute to solving critical global issues.
Creative Expressions of Radical Empathy
Through the program, students are able to explore nearly every space of creative expression. From traditional art (painting, drawing, sculpting, etc.) to performance art (dancing, singing, storytelling, etc.) to STEAM-based feats of creativity, each student was allowed to let their imagination run wild, sending positive images of community, compassion, resiliency, and support.
The 2025-2026 theme, “Unique & United,” managed to raise their projected $1 million, with nearly 91,000 “creative expressions” and nearly 115,000 participants. According to the official website, this cycle’s theme was important to open up the conversation about the divisiveness permeating our society.
“Young people face an increasingly divisive world, but seek ways to understand themselves and connect with others,” the website states. “Teaching students how to explore their identities and those of others… and learn how celebrating our differences fosters understanding and connection.”
Creative Visions Director of Program Impact and Evaluation Sarah Fanslau stated, “…we’re proving that change doesn’t have to just belong to the wealthy or the powerful. Seeing young people discover how they can make a difference right now is extraordinary, and something I never get tired of.”
Typically, teachers and librarians facilitate the program for their students, providing Students Rebuild resources such as plans, art guides, and videos. Cheryl Rizzo, librarian and ambassador for Students Rebuild, drew inspiration from the program’s mission, rekindling her passion for education when she was seriously considering a change in career post COVID. The efforts these students have shown to celebrate people’s differences and offer their support has done much to inspire a worldwide movement of intentional caring.
“Through this project and the conversations they start, I’ve gotten to watch students wake up to the idea that they belong to something larger than their corner of the world,” Rizzo said.
How Students Are Rebuilding the Future
Getting students engaged in making the world a better place is not a new concept. In fact, anyone growing up in the ’90s will recall stories told in class about how kids our age, dealing with our same struggles used their resources to create real lasting hope and qualitative changes within their own communities. Pen pal programs, paper cranes for kids living with cancer, canned good drives, fundraising with gift-wrapping and candy. You name it, there was an initiative enlisting the creativity of the youth.
Students Rebuild is another take on this concept, one that centers the very human urge in all of us to lend aid where we can. Kids have a natural sense of justice. If someone doesn’t get to eat while I do, that’s simply unfair. Someone isn’t able to attend school because of fear of walking outside: that’s unfair. Children don’t have much in the way of organic resources. What they do have is a large capacity for empathy and endless imagination.
The 2026-2027 season is all about students channeling their creativity into messages about the human impact on the planet. “We’ll invite young people around the world to explore the water, land, and air around them, and use creativity to share their stories and vision for a thriving world,” according to the Students Rebuild official Facebook page. “Through this project, students will explore, create, and share — and together, their voices and creativity will become a force for real change. “
What’s the Bright Side?
Empathy is not a lost art. It’s found within the words of a young storyteller writing about what vegetables they would plant in a community garden. It’s in the collaborative LEGO builds that highlight the power of community. It’s in the nimble fingers of a young student folding a piece of colorful construction paper into the shape of a pet from another planet to entertain other kids and seniors in isolation.
Children are more than the future. They are the blank slate that constantly asks us to paint something new, something ambitious, something full of all the forgotten and deferred dreams. With programs like Students Rebuild, we continue to give children the tools they need to build the future they desire and deserve.
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