By Pam Hersh
Plainsboro resident Renita Zaparde, a member of Generation Z, is tech-savvy like her peers. The Princeton Day School junior, however, has made her mark by getting out of the virtual world and into the real world by connecting with other teenagers in a way that brings this “Z” to an “A” — actually an A+ in the subject area of human decency. If she is typical of her generation, we all should be prepared for a brave new wonderful world.
Four years ago when she was 13 years old, Renita did the “usual eighth grade stuff,” plus one more thing. She decided to save the life of an orphaned teenage girl in India, an activity in a different category from buying sparkly pink nail polish at the mall.
The vehicle she used to accomplish her feat of human kindness was in fact pink, but it was a pink bicycle. The bike mode of transportation enabled the teen in India to get to school, get an education, and have a future. That one bike quickly morphed into a 501c-3 nonprofit which Renita named Pedal2Prosperity, providing many pink bikes for many orphaned teen girls in India and now Africa.
”The inspiration came while I was visiting India with my family in 2012,” Renita said. “That’s when I met Kusum, 13 years old, an orphan who walked three miles each way to school every day. When Kusum was 6 years old, his father committed suicide. Two years later, her mother became severely ill and passed away due to lack of medical care. On the day her mother died, Kusum knew she was going to be a nurse — no matter what.”
Renita’s compassionate genius, however, was recognizing that Kusum’s dream of becoming a nurse was extraordinarily challenging, because of the logistics of getting an education. When Kusum was orphaned, she moved to her grandmother’s home, three miles from her school. After helping with mandatory household chores and then walking over 6 miles (round trip) every day under the scorching sun, Kusum barely had time or energy to complete her homework and focus on her lessons. She was on the verge of giving up when the pink bike arrived.
Renita “simply” raised $70 by means of bake sales with the help of her classmates at PDS. On her next trip to India two months later, Renita went to a bike shop near Kusum’s home, bought the pink bike and delivered it to Kusum.
”It was really no big deal,” Renita said. But she turned it into a big deal by realizing that there were many more teens like Kusum. With the tremendous support and advice of Renita’s parents and her brother and sister, Pedal2Prosperity “got rolling.” To date, Pedal2Prosperity has given 510 bikes to orphan girls in India and Africa. Each bike helps two girls, because one girl will pedal while the other sits on the back of the bike. Renita makes a point to meet each recipient of a bike during her frequent trips to India. In addition, every year she sees Kusum who is on her way to becoming a nurse and whose life inspired Renita’s initiative.
Less dramatic, but equally important, is how Renita is having a profound influence on the lives of teenagers living in the United States. Hundreds of high school students have been recruited by Renita to raise money to purchase the pink bikes.
Through Skype, she has connected with students in high schools across the country. Renita generally works with the schools’ community service organizations. So far, she has involved more than 1,200 students from 62 schools in 24 states. Her goal is to reach students in all 50 states by the time she graduates from high school.Even by Facebook and Twitter standards, that is a network whose net worth is priceless.
Students and non-students interested in helping with Pedal2Proserity, can learn more at www.pedal2prosperity.org.
