Spotlight on Young Minds, Big Impact: Inside the Letters of Light Foundation

Wendy: 00:00:00

So how many volunteers do you have and how often do

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you guys send letters to people?

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Ananya Nagendra: We currently

have about 850 youth volunteers

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all under the age of 20.

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And yeah, so we actually ship

to partnering oncology centers,

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mainly through Texas, but

also in other parts of the US.

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We currently are partnered with

friends at Dana-Farber, and we

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ship out to Boston because of that.

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We also ship out to other oncology

centers, through our various different

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chapters located in different states.

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Wendy: Welcome to The NonProfit

Nook, the podcast for nonprofit

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leaders, board members, and community

change makers who want to build

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stronger, smarter organizations.

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I'm your host, Wendy Kidd, a longtime

business owner and nonprofit leader,

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and I'm here to bring you real talk,

real tools and real stories to help

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you thrive in the nonprofit world.

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I'll be talking with local

nonprofit leaders, community

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change makers and experts in

everything from board development

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to fundraising and digital tools.

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Sharing real stories and simple

strategies you can actually use,

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because running a nonprofit is hard,

but you don't have to do it alone.

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Let's get started.

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Hi everyone and welcome

back to The Nonprofit Nook.

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I am here today with Ananya Nagendra,

founder and CEO of the Letters of Light

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Foundation, a nonprofit supporting

cancer patients with encouragement.

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Resources and access to mental healthcare.

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Inspired by her mother's chemotherapy

journey, Ananya saw how many patients

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face treatment without support.

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At just 15 years old, she launched

Letters of Light by connecting

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students with patients through

handwritten letters of encouragement.

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In just a few years, the organization

has expanded to offer preventive health

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workshops for young people and the Books

of Light Program, which provides newly

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diagnosed patients in minority communities

with resources on mental wellness,

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diet and support during treatment.

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Ananya's leadership has been recognized

by Riley's way, Chipotle, volunteer

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McKinney, and even the Mayor of

Dallas, all before she turned 20.

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Please welcome Ananya.

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you so

much for having me on here, Wendy.

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Wendy: I'm so glad to have you.

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You are so impressive at doing

all of that before the age of 20.

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I mean, I know.

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I did not do nearly as many

impressive things before I turned 20.

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And how much thought you have put into

this and how much care you have put

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into this has really impressed me.

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So I was really excited

when you reached out

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: to be on the podcast.

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'cause I really want people to know

more about it 'cause it's really cool.

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: tell us a little bit more about

how you got this started and when.

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Ananya Nagendra: Yeah, so, we officially

launched Letters of Light as a program for

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high school students as a small club at my

high school, in September,: 2023

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catalyst for starting letters of light,

which was, as you mentioned, largely

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my mom's journey with chemotherapy.

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After I lost her to metastatic breast

cancer, I realized that, oh, I really

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need to do something so I can help other

people who are in similar situations be

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able to support these cancer patients as.

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Mental health care is truly

underemphasized in cancer care and

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we often think about the physical

aspects of helping cancer patients with

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either driving them to appointments,

giving them meals, et cetera, but a

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lot of these patients might not have

any support at all as they go through

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chemotherapy or other forms of treatment.

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So we really try to bridge that

gap and offer them the support

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that they might not have otherwise.

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Wendy: I am so impressed by that, I mean,

you really took a tragedy in your own

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life and turned it around to serve others.

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And that's, mean, that just kind of makes

me wanna cry every time I think about it.

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Like that's amazing that you're

willing to do that for others, even

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though your mom's not still with you.

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So kudos to you, girl, like

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: I love that you've recognized this

gap in the industry about mental health.

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I honestly, I've, I've had several

family members have cancer, but you're

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right, I've never had anybody offer

any kind of services to help them

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with the mental support that's needed.

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And quite frequently, you can't even

go with them into treatment rooms.

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You can't really be there when

they're going through, especially like

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radiation therapy or anything like that.

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So I think you've found that sneaky

way to get into the room with them.

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'cause they could bring

that, that letter with them.

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That's amazing.

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Ananya Nagendra: Yeah.

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And that's what we truly try to emphasize

from the start with our volunteers, that

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we want to be a source of encouragement

and a source of support for them, and we

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want the letters to serve as a talisman

for them to have during treatment.

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And it's something that they

should look forward to almost so

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that way the treatment isn't as

burdening on their mental health

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and doesn't cause as much stress.

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So that's what we found in Letters

of Light to do, and I am so excited

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to be able to do this with so

many wonderful youth volunteers.

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Wendy: So how many volunteers

do you have and how often do

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you guys send letters to people?

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Ananya Nagendra: We currently

have about 850 youth volunteers

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all under the age of 20.

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And yeah, so we actually ship

to partnering oncology centers,

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mainly through Texas, but

also in other parts of the us.

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We currently are partnered with

friends at Dana-Farber, and we

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ship out to Boston because of that.

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We also ship out to other oncology

centers, through our various different

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chapters located in different states.

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And we also have a partnership with

Texas Oncology Foundation, where we're

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currently writing letters for their

Survive and Thrive conference this summer.

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Wendy: Wow.

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That's, that's really cool.

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How, how do you kind of stay in

touch with what the patients need?

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Obviously the letters are great, but do

you get any kind of feedback from the,

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the facilities or the patients themselves?

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How do you keep in touch?

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Ananya Nagendra: Yeah, so with all

of our partnering oncology centers,

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what we do is we connect with their

social worker and their main point

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of contact as they closely work with,

different support systems and offering

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different resources for the patients.

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When I first started this organization,

I realized that the best way to

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go about partnerships is to be in

touch with the social worker at the.

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Center or multiple social workers there.

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So what we do is after we send out

each packet of letters, or if we send

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over care packages, whatever we end

up doing, we have a meeting with the

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social worker after each donation to

be able to understand, oh, is there

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anything else we could have facilitated?

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How did this go?

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Do we need to send more letters next time?

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Do we need to cater it to a specific

group of people who might be in stage

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four or, we have even sent it to hospice

care centers before, so, we really try

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to work with the social workers to curate

the letters towards they are center.

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And we also have themes for every

month for our youth volunteers

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where we teach them about, which

cancer awareness month that is.

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And we explain how exactly

preventative healthcare works for

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that specific cancer in that month.

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And through going through that,

we're actually able to curate the

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letters more, and also are a major

part of this organization that

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I feel like, might not pop up.

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As openly, because we mainly talk about

encouraging patients, but a huge part

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of what we do, is make sure that the

youth know early on how they're able to

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get involved in preventive healthcare

and get that for themselves and get

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detected early if anything's happening.

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That's really something that I have truly

been wanting to do from the beginning of

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Letters of Light, and I'm so grateful we

can have these sessions where we just help

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them gain the knowledge, not only about.

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How to be a more empathetic person through

supporting cancer patients, but also so

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that they have all the resources to take

charge of their own health early on.

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Wendy: Wow, I hadn't

even thought about that.

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That is so amazing.

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I just keep saying the word

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: seriously,

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: just really kind of a dual purpose,

and I had no idea that you were having

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so much education for the volunteers.

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And how you were being so

intentional about that.

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I think that's why I

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: is it's so intentional on

every step of what you're doing.

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Ananya Nagendra: You so much.

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Wendy: So I, I'm sure you

get feedback from your social

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workers and you hear stories.

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Tell me one of your

favorite success story.

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Ananya Nagendra: Yeah.

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So, I have mentioned this story before at

this conference I spoke at, but one quote

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that truly stuck with me and I sort of.

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Think encapsulates what we do

is from the head of nursing at

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Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas.

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So Ms.

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Loretta Mergerson, she made a

comment that these letters serve as.

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A source of not only encouragement,

but excitement for the patients to

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look forward to every time they come

to the appointments that they often

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dread and often find so hard to even

walk into, and already having a lot

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of physical stress on their bodies.

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A lot of these patients truly.

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Struggle to find the courage to keep going

through with their treatments and, the

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nursing staff at Sammons expresses and

how the letters are something that a lot

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of patients ask about, look forward to.

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And even the patients from many different

centers have written back to us expressing

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that they love the organization.

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And some of the patients even end up

donating to the organization, which

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is just incredibly sweet of them.

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Wendy: Wow.

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That's fantastic.

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So, I'm sure you have a

lot to do in this role.

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So what's the favorite

part of what you do?

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Ananya Nagendra: That's

gonna be a hard one.

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I truly enjoy everything from the

admin work to me presenting, for

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preventive healthcare sessions.

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But I think my favorite has got to

be talking to the social workers.

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And the reason I think that is because.

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Obviously me being in high school still,

when I first started this organization,

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I knew nothing about oncology and social

work and everything that I learned is from

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my amazing board members as well as the

partnering oncology centers where I am

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in touch with their social workers, and

getting to talk to these social workers.

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I have truly gained so much knowledge

about different aspects of mental

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health care and oncology that I

wouldn't even have thought of otherwise.

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And they make very interesting points

about how we're able to expand Letters

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of Light and how with our letters

we can have different variations.

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In terms of.

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Which, youth we get involved,

like for example, certain events.

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We have high schoolers, certain events,

we have elementary schoolers even.

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And whenever I talk to social

workers, I always get so many new

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inspirations on how we can oh, do this.

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And then we're able to expand

it to another idea and it's just

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wonderful to be able to express

my new plans for the organization

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and they just add in great points.

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Wendy: That is really fantastic

that they trust you and give you

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that feedback and you guys can work

with them on such a great level.

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Social work has gotta be so hard.

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And I feel for them 'cause they're

on the front line, but I love that

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they trust and work with you so well

on what is needed for their patients.

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That's.

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That's really needed.

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So I appreciate that y'all

have that communication.

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What do you wish people

understood about your organization

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or, you know, the patients?

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Like what's kind of the number one

thing you feel like people don't get?

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Ananya Nagendra: I think the

biggest thing that people largely

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underemphasize in mental health care, is.

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The fact that a lot of these patients,

when they're going through chemo, while

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you're able to actively give them the

support through volunteering, in a way

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we're able to physically support them with

either driving them to appointments or

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as I mentioned, like giving out meals or

just doing different things for them, I

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think to a certain extent, mental health.

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For cancer care, still happens to be very

underfunded and also very underemphasized.

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'cause a lot of people view it as,

oh, if you're able to help them in

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some physical manner or just able to

donate something, and help them in a

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monetary way, you are able to sort of

cure any stress that they might have

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as they're going through treatment or.

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Support them to the extent where

they'll feel encouraged or feel

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supported through that manner.

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And while that is true, I think mental

health support is absolutely such a

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big deal in cancer care, especially

because, this is one thing that my mom

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really instilled in me, which is largely

rooted in the organization and it's

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about how mental healthcare and cancer

care is as much a battle as physical

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health when you're facing cancer.

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So with that in mind, I, I just keep

emphasizing how much support is necessary.

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And while we're high schoolers and we even

have elementary school volunteers, as I

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mentioned, it's hard for us to be able

to actively go to these patients and help

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them and sit with them and talk to them.

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So, I founded letters of light with

the intention that we, as in our

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age, should be able to do as much

as we can to help these patients.

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And with that goal, I thought of letters

being the best way to go about that

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as you're able to actually connect

with them, and just keep the letters

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lighthearted and make sure that they

have just a fun time reading it.

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So that's, that's sort

of why I started this.

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Wendy: I hope that you

continue doing that because.

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I think probably part of what you

face is a little bit of, of age bias.

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Right.

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Like, what could these kids do?

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But you have proven these kids can do a

lot, they can do a lot, and they don't

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actually have to go somewhere to do it.

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They can provide that help from afar.

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And I don't think people realize

how much of a resource that that is.

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That you're harnessing

with your organization.

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And I don't think they give

those generations the credit

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necessarily, that they deserve.

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So I wanna give you full kudos 'cause

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Ananya Nagendra: Thank you.

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Wendy: that's not something

that everybody would do.

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And I appreciate the fact

that you're doing it.

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And now tell me a little bit more

about the Books of Light program,

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because I know that's something

newer that you've started.

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Ananya Nagendra: So in Books of Light

We're currently starting out the program

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with just a few of our oncology centers

that we're partnering with, to be able

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to offer them a books that the patients

request that they'd like to read

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during their chemotherapy appointments,

that they can also return through a

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small library system, but also books

that newly diagnosed patients have

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in terms of diet planning while going

through different forms of treatment.

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So, and also books on mental

healthcare as well, when

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they're going through treatment.

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So the, the two parts that I mentioned

later on are about, specifically

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for newly diagnosed patients.

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So they sort of have almost care guides

to keep with them and just sort of give

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them a little bit of comfort if they

ever feel like, they might be stressed

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about not knowing enough information

about their newly diagnosed situation.

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So.

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Through Books of Light, we wanna be

able to offer, especially underfunded

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oncology centers, these resources.

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So through a small library system,

almost with the bookcase set up there,

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we're able to give these patients

these books that they can freely

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borrow and return at any point.

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Wendy: I love reading myself, so I would

love that if my doctor's office had

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that information that I could take home

for free and read and learn more about.

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Do your, do your doctor's

offices participate in selecting

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what books you put there?

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Ananya Nagendra: So we both actually with

some of our centers, we actually work

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with them to pick the title specifically

and also the number of books that we

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should order for their center based

on the size of the center, et cetera.

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Sorry, side note, I'm gonna

sidetrack a bit, but one major

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thing that I was shocked to learn

is that every oncology center has.

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Very, very different systems

in place for how they manage.

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Patient interactions with nonprofits

and, what exactly they're looking for

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in terms of what the nonprofit does and

how they can connect to the nonprofits.

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So making these personalized plans

really helps us as well learn more about

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oncology, social work, in general, and.

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What we end up doing is since so many

of our oncology centers are in varying

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sizes and have different, different

requirements, we try to either choose

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the titles with them, or we also have

these Google forms that patients can fill

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out anonymously, to send in their book

requests, which we try to accommodate

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as much as possible with our funding.

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Wendy: Oh, that's fantastic.

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This just gets better and better,

I just love what you're doing.

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Ananya Nagendra: You.

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Wendy: I, you know, I've, my mother

has a, a doctor, an oncologist that

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we see once a year to check her

numbers to see if she has cancer.

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It's a blood cancer that her

family has, and fortunately she's

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never had it, knock on wood.

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But every time we go, I'm always looking

around to see, you know, what they do for

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their patients and that kind of a thing.

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After you and I had talked last time

I saw your business card at his office

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and I was like, this is so cool.

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I know her.

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: 00:16:41

Ananya Nagendra: Yeah, that when

you told me that I was, I was so

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happy and so excited about it.

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Wendy: Yeah, you guys have

just grown and grown and grown.

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It's really amazing.

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So how can other people get involved?

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How can people volunteer or donate?

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: 00:16:54

Give us all the details.

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: 00:16:56

Ananya Nagendra: Yeah.

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: 00:16:56

So, right now what we do is we have

chapters at different high schools

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: 00:16:59

or elementary schools or middle

schools where, either we have student

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volunteers who are leading the chapters

or we partner with schools where.

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The counseling staff at the schools

run the letters of light chapters and

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we speak with them about what exactly

they wanna do with their specific

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chapter and how we could best help them.

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The best way to get involved for with

us right now is a always you can mail

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over letters to our location that

should be on our website about how you

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can, also send in care packages and

their instructions on that as well.

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: 00:17:30

And for letters we follow our letter

guidelines, which are a set of essentially

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rules for our letters that we follow for

every single one that gets audited to make

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sure that we're just meeting the standards

on how we're best able to support the

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patients with the letters we write.

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: 00:17:45

And also going along with donating.

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You can always donate through our portal.

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: 00:17:50

Since we are a 501c3 nonprofit

donations are much appreciated when

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: 00:17:54

we first started this organization.

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: 00:17:56

One big thing that I want to emphasize

is that because we're all teenagers,

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: 00:18:01

who run this organization, I was scared

about not being able to get enough

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: 00:18:06

funding to be able to make care packages

or be able to donate these books.

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: 00:18:10

So I want to start out with letters as,

they are quite effective and they're

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: 00:18:15

just amazing to be able to connect

with the patients with, but also.

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: 00:18:19

They're very cost friendly, so

we realized that it's a great

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: 00:18:22

way for us to get started.

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: 00:18:23

But now, through different grants and

to be through fundraising, we have

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: 00:18:27

gotten the opportunity to be able to

expand Books of Light, and also have

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: 00:18:30

care package donations, which I'm,

I'm so excited and thrilled about.

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: 00:18:34

And, yeah, so I think the most

popular thing that our volunteers

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: 00:18:39

tend to want to do is either.

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: 00:18:41

Donate letters or they make care packages

themselves and they end up donating those.

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: 00:18:46

So the best way to get involved is through

writing letters and sending them to us.

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: 00:18:50

Wendy: That is fantastic.

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: 00:18:51

And if they want, if somebody

wants to bring a chapter to their

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: 00:18:54

school, do they just reach out

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: 00:18:56

Ananya Nagendra: Mm-hmm.

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: 00:18:56

Wendy: to your organization?

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: 00:18:57

How does that work?

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: 00:18:59

Ananya Nagendra: So on our website, we

actually have a form that we have linked

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: 00:19:02

our site to and through that you're able

to start a chapter, reach out to us and we

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: 00:19:08

email them back with sort of a toolkit on

how chapters are run for Letters of Light.

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: 00:19:13

And we work with them one-on-one,

have a meeting to onboard

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: 00:19:17

them to our organization, and

they're able to work with.

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: 00:19:22

Us in terms of funding, fundraising,

as well as being able to sort of

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: 00:19:27

tweak our traditional program to

be able to fit it better with their

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: 00:19:31

city, their school, et cetera.

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: 00:19:33

Wendy: Do you have any like fundraiser

events or any other kind of events that

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: 00:19:37

people can attend and participate in?

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: 00:19:40

Ananya Nagendra: Not right now.

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: 00:19:42

I would love to have some sort of

Books of Light specific fundraiser

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: 00:19:45

potentially this year or next year.

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: 00:19:48

But as of right now, we really

just try to keep it for the youth

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: 00:19:51

within high schools and beyond.

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: 00:19:54

Wendy: Gotcha.

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: 00:19:54

Gotcha.

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: 00:19:55

Okay.

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: 00:19:55

So how can people find out more

about your, at your organization?

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: 00:19:59

How can they stay in touch?

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: 00:20:01

Ananya Nagendra: The best way

is either through our Instagram,

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: 00:20:03

which we constantly keep updating.

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: 00:20:05

It's

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: 00:20:06

@joinlettersoflight

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: 00:20:07

as well as our website,

letters of light.org.

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: 00:20:10

Wendy: I love it.

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: 00:20:11

This is greatness.

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: 00:20:12

Thank you so much, Ananya.

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: 00:20:13

I really appreciate you

spending time with me today.

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: 00:20:15

Is there anything else that

we didn't cover that you

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: 00:20:18

wanna make sure people know?

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: 00:20:21

Ananya Nagendra: Nothing specific,

but I just like to say if you have

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: 00:20:25

a passion that you just want, to be

involved in and you have something that

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: 00:20:30

you see that needs change just to get

involved in it, your age doesn't matter.

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: 00:20:34

Your skillset doesn't matter.

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: 00:20:36

If you have passion for something,

you'll definitely be able

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: 00:20:38

to achieve greatness in it.

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: 00:20:39

Wendy: That's a great one.

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: 00:20:40

Absolutely.

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: 00:20:41

Because if people will just step outside

of the little world and join who have

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: 00:20:46

that same passion, you're gonna find.

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: 00:20:48

So much rewarding for you

and for your community.

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: 00:20:52

Thank you again for joining

me today and everybody, I

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: 00:20:55

Ananya Nagendra: Thank you, Wendy.

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: 00:20:56

Wendy: meeting Miss Ananya and learning

all about her organization and we'll

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: 00:21:01

see you next time on The NonProfit Nook.

399

: 00:21:03

Thanks guys.

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: 00:21:08

Speaker 2: Thanks for listening

to The NonProfit Nook.

401

: 00:21:10

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402

: 00:21:13

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