When Lauren Rivera was younger, she loved playing with American Girl dolls. She designed clothes for them, created fun videos and took them everywhere. She wanted to share this happiness with young girls who are experiencing a difficult time in their lives.
Since seventh grade, Lauren has been volunteering at Family House with Oakland Children’s Hospital by providing meals to the families staying there. She saw how challenging it can be when a loved one is sick in the hospital. In addition to providing food, she wanted to do more to help bring a little bit of joy to the kids during this time. When she realized that there were lots of beautiful dolls collecting dust in people’s homes, and lots of little girls who
would just love the chance to own a special doll, Lauren decided to launch Adopt-a-Doll to bring them all together!
In September 2020, Lauren was selected as a finalist for Sustainable Contra Costa’s Leadership in Sustainability – Rising Star Award. In October, I had the opportunity to interview her for Sustainability Live! It was clear that Lauren wanted to grow Adopt-a-Doll and that she needed 501c3 status to accept donations to cover her expenses. I was very impressed and in a subsequent conversation offered to take on Adopt-a-Doll as a fiscally sponsored project under The Praxis Group. She was thrilled and our board agreed.
We encourage everyone to visit Adopt-a-Doll’s website at www.adoptadoll.org (created by Lauren), check out her presentation (Adopt a Doll Presentation) and make a donation to help provide joy to young girls in need.
Welcome aboard, Lauren and Adopt-a-Doll!