In response to the rise in violence against Asian and Asian American elders, four high schoolers have raised over $4,000 to purchase personal safety alarms for elderly residents in their neighborhood. Ryan Ho, Justin Mok, Brendan Szeto and Alexander McKay are the four behind the initiative, setting up a GoFundMe page to receive the necessary money to purchase the alarms, on which they met their goal in one weekend.
“Knowing that I have my own 88 year old grandmother, I knew I wanted to take action,” Ho told daytime talk show host Tamron Hall. “I think [seeing the violence] truly got to me when I started seeing [it] in my own community.”
Their actions have grabbed the attention of the Walt Disney Company, as they were nominated for the Disney Magic Maker Contest. There were around 28,000 total nominees. “It’s truly an honor to be nominated…[however] I care more about what we did, how we helped everyone out,” Mok said.
During their interview on the Tamron Hall show, the teens learned that they were one of 50 winners in the contest, winning them a five day, four night vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
