High School Students Helping to Keep Patients & Families Together
Teens with Heartsongs launched in 2020 during COVID19 to support Children's National Hospital's Family Housing Program and provide leadership opportunities for high school students. Over 700+ students from more than 40 DC Metro area high schools, both public and private, have participated in several education sessions, completed multiple team fundraisers and individual outreach, and together we have raised nearly $500,000!
Email info@teenswithheartsongs.org for additional information.
Applications are NOW OPEN for the 2024 Fall Leadership Program
Hundreds of families rely on the Hospital to provide free accommodations while their child is being treated. Many are unable to afford the costs associated with medical treatment and extended stays requiring hotels, meals, air travel and more. The program requires $400,000 annually to house 300 families.
Do you want to participate in Teens with Heartsongs?
Do you want to be a Team Leader?
Do you want to serve on the Teens with Heartsongs Board of Directors?
We need passionate, smart, dynamic high school students who want to learn, grow and be part of something meaningful!
Teens with Heartsongs is an organization dedicated to supporting the patients of Children’s National Hospital and their families. Teens with Heartsongs is a leadership program for high school students that provides teens with important life skills, an introduction to philanthropy and building community, and of course the ability to know that they are making a difference in the hearts, minds and health of hundreds of children each year.
Teens will gain important life skills which are embedded in our program:
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Collaboration
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Communication
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Leadership
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Entrepreneurship
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Compassion
Teens with Heartsongs will also have the unique opportunity to gain knowledge of the impact their work has on their community with educational seminars from local leaders. Teens will earn recognition and certification from Children’s National for their impact on the Hospital and their families.
"Heartsongs is the best organization I have worked with in terms of character building and skill development for high schoolers. The skills I developed in communication, leadership, collaboration, and project vision are skills that I will forever carry with me. It it my true belief that Heartsongs has had the most consequential impact on my high school career, and the admissions officers at [The University of] Michigan agreed when they called me to express the importance they saw in the commitment to public service that Heartsongs brings. I will be forever grateful for all that I have learned working with you. They explained that it was Heartsongs that drew them to my application. Heartsongs has the possibility to do for every student what it did for me - instill a commitment to public service."
Zain Ahmed, TWH Student Director 2021
"My role as Director of the Board this year has been an incredibly meaningful experience. Thank you so much for mentoring me and trusting me to guide the program. Watching us reach our goal in the last few minutes was a highlight, and I'll never forget the feeling of seeing hundreds of people uniting for a greater cause. Teens with Heartsongs embodies everything I hope to cultivate in my personal life." Jinara Weerakoon, TWH Student Director 2023
"I just wanted to express all my infinite gratitude for this incredible program and the great leaders of it! Thank you so much for all your commitment and dedication to the cause of supporting all the families at Children’s National, and by putting fundraisers out there to support this group! It has been so wonderful to work in this marvelous program! I have learned about outreach and really expanded my horizons by reaching out to different people and the most wonderful thing was the fact that we helped so many families while doing so! The experiences from this year have been so invaluable. My favorite part of our meetings was learning about children and families who really benefited from the Heartsongs program."Antonella Foschi, 2023 Team Leader Centreville High School
"My name is Jacey Spratt and my son, Benjamin Spratt (Walter Johnson - Grade 9) completed the program. I just want to reiterate what an awesome and meaningful experience it was for him; he truly got a ton out of it including the tour of Children's Hospital a couple of weeks ago. He is so lucky to be getting such great experiences so early on in his high school career. I know he wants to continue being involved next year. Grateful for all you do for Children's Hospital and of course for these kids." Jacey Spratt, Benjamin's Mom
"I can't express how important the housing program was to our family! My daughter spent 3 months at the Hospital and we had nowhere to stay being from out of town. The cost of a hotel would have been incredibly burdensome for us. Our family is so grateful to the Teens with Heartsongs program. We don't know what we would have done without you! Thank you!"
Grateful Children's Hospital Family
Our goal and mission are simple:
build homes away from home for critically ill children to keep families
together in times of crisis!
ARE YOU A TEEN WITH HEARTSONGS?
Apply NOW for our 2024 Program
Past Participating High Schools: Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, Bowie HS, Broad Run High School, The Bullis School, Chesapeake Math & IT Academy, Clarksburg HS, DC International School, Einstein HS, Good Counsel, Holy Child, Montgomery Blair HS, Northwest HS, Poolesville HS, Paint Branch HS, Benjamin Banneker HS, Edmund Burke HS, The Siena School, Wilson HS, St. John College, McLean HS, Fairfax HS, Madeira, Langley HS, Stone Ridge, Jewish Day School, St. Andrews, Thomas Wootton HS, Richard Montgomery HS, Rockville HS, Wheaton HS, Walter Johnson HS, Winston Churchill HS, Quince Orchard HS, Walt Whitman HS, Northwood HS, Watkins Mill HS and more.
Don't see your High School? Create a Team! Have a sports team or club and looking to do something else together? Create a Team!
For information, please contact info@teenswithheartsongs.org
Hospital Housing Needed NOW More than Ever
At Children’s National, the housing program is entirely funded by Heartsongs and other philanthropy, and many families rely on the Hospital to provide free accommodations while their child is being treated. Many are unable to afford the costs associated with medical treatment and extended stays requiring hotels, meals, air travel and more.
Teens with Heartsongs is raising funds so that we can accommodate all patient families that will need housing –
not just today but forever.
We must raise $400,000 each year to support 300 families (about $1,333 per family).
Only hearts can build a home – and Heartsongs can fill them!
Together we can build a Heartsongs home and guarantee that the critically ill children
can have their parents and families close by in their time of greatest need.