The Wonder Kid Project gives back to the community while staying home

The Wonder Kid Project is a community-based organization of like-minded individuals striving to help those who are in vulnerable situations.

Its team consists of five University of Guam students and a Penn Foster College student. The team knew each other from Tiyan High School.

The Wonder Kid Project was created with the purpose of serving the community and raising awareness for issues that the team is passionate about.

Eries Moreno and Alanna Fegurgur on creating the Wonder Kid Project.

As a response to the coronavirus, the team announced their first community project. They recently launched a COVID-19 relief mission through their GoFundMe page.

“I think it was a good idea that people like us, who may have the time to put on something like this, to help out,” said Eries Moreno, a sophomore at UOG and project coordinator of the team.

The island lockdown made it a struggle for the team to connect with potential beneficiaries.

It was also a challenge to promote their newly launched group on social media. However, the team was able to reach out to those who could participate in the project while staying at home.

Steven Kho and Alanna Fergurgur on the project’s struggles.

“We’re not able to schedule meetings [with our beneficiaries] or hand them checks personally because we’re trying to work from home as much as possible,” said Alanna Fegurgur, a sophomore UOG student who manages the project’s social media.

Maria Minas, sophomore UOG student and family assistance person-of-contact, explains that the project was able to show how responsive the community can be when we find ourselves in times of need.

One of the team’s first accomplishments was collecting $523 in donations within the initial launch of their organization.

Maria Minas on the team’s accomplishments.

“The Wonder Kid Project shows that as a collective group, we’re able to gain support from the community to help the community,” Minas said.

Although it is a relatively new group, the Wonder Kid Project has received praise for taking initiative and choosing to take on this project during Guam’s lockdown.

Janel Tahimik, a student from Guam Community College, appreciates the team’s initiative in reaching out to the local community during the quarantine.

“The Wonder Kid Project was well-organized and beautifully put together by inspiring people,” Tahimik said. “I’m confident that this project has made a big difference to those in need.”

The group is also happy to see the local community come together and put the CHamoru concept of inafa’maolek into action.

“The whole value of inafa’maolek and how we interdepend on one another and help each other during times of need—that’s how the culture is here on island,” said Steven Kho, a sophomore UOG student who handles the project’s financial logistics.

Future plans for the organization are yet to be determined by the team. Currently, they are focusing on finishing up their COVID-19 relief mission.

“We’ll think of a way where we establish ourselves as a non-profit organization, but as of right now, it’s still just a community group,” said Moreno.

The Wonder Kid Project continues to distribute its collected donations among their beneficiaries and the families that reached out for financial relief.