Backstory

As Co-Founder and President of the Sending Support Society, Giulia is passionate about bringing people together to create meaningful change. She and her older sister, Cecilia, founded the organization out of a shared belief that even small acts of kindness, generosity, and compassion can make a difference in the lives of others.

Their work began in middle school, when Giulia and Cecilia established the Sending Support Club to bring more of their peers together through community service. As students, they became increasingly aware of the challenges facing people and communities around them, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although they wanted to help, they recognized that their ability to create change as middle school students was largely limited to the communities immediately around them. By creating the Sending Support Club, they hoped to expand their impact by giving their peers opportunities to work together in support of causes beyond themselves.

As the club grew through middle school and into high school, so did their vision. The club collaborated with local hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, animal shelters, anti-poverty networks, and environmental organizations, bringing students together to support a wide range of causes. Recognizing the potential to reach even more people and create a broader impact, Giulia and Cecilia founded the Sending Support Society as a New Jersey nonprofit organization. Since then, the Society has supported both local initiatives and larger-scale programs, including the Blood Cancer United Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign. Through these efforts and others, the Society has brought together students, families, businesses, and organizations to support causes reaching far beyond their immediate community.

Today, the Sending Support Society has raised more than $200,000 and volunteered  250+ hours, alleviating struggles both locally and worldwide from Basking Ridge, New Jersey. As President, Giulia is committed to building upon the foundation she and Cecilia created while exploring new ways to make an impact. Her interests in medicine and neuroscience have inspired her to consider initiatives supporting brain research, rehabilitation programs, and individuals affected by brain injuries and neurological conditions. She hopes to bring these interests together with the Society’s existing work while creating new opportunities for her peers and community to get involved.

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Co-Founder & President

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Cecilia Caligiuri

Cecilia's firm belief that even a single person's actions can have an impact on making the world a better place was what founded the Sending Support Society in 2020.

Since elementary school, she was always an active participant in community service activities, but in sixth grade, she decided it was her time to step up. Having never felt so in touch with everything going on in the world through social media, from the xenophobic hate movements to the increasing death rates due to COVID-19 on the news, she created the Sending Support Club to emphasize the basic, human ideals the world seemed to need most at that time: kindness, generosity, and compassion. Her mission was to unite her community through good deeds by sending hundreds of emails to collaborate with various service organizations, volunteer at food shelters, meet with company heads to sponsor charities, and do public outreach and awareness for fundraisers or causes. Meeting virtually or in-person as the pandemic changed what school looked like, this team of dedicated youth sent donations and cards/posters/videos of appreciation as 'support' to organizations supporting those most in need, as well as the everyday heroes who took the time out of their lives to help them.

By the end of Cecilia's time in middle school, the club had collaborated with multiple local hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, animal shelters, anti-poverty networks, and environmental organizations. After handing down the Sending Support club to her younger sister, Giulia, Cecilia decided to expand her club at the start of high school and found a non-profit organization, the Sending Support Society.

Today, this organization has raised $200,000+ and volunteered 250+ hours, alleviating worldwide struggles one step at a time from Basking Ridge, NJ.