A Family Thing

For 6-year-old Satyam, giving back is something he’s grown up seeing his family do.

His mother, Neetal, serves on the LSS board, and in 2024, the whole family helped mentor a newly arrived Afghan family. But perhaps Satyam’s greatest influence has been his older brother, Jahan.

When Jahan was just 7, he inspired friends, family and his community to help children arriving in Jacksonville as refugees. He organized care packages for Afghan and Ukrainian children, and even chose a birthday celebration centered around giving rather than receiving. It’s easy to see why Satyam looks up to him.

So when Satyam turned 6 recently, he decided he didn’t need more presents, either. Instead, he asked his friends to bring him food donations for the LSS Food Pantry.

The donations began piling up, and recently, Neetal brought Satyam to LSS to deliver everything his friends had collected. But Satyam wasn’t finished. After visiting the LSS Food Pantry and seeing the need firsthand, he went straight home, got on the computer and designed a flyer asking his neighbors to donate food, too.

His plan is simple: leave a flyer at each neighbor’s house, collect their donations at home and bring them to LSS.

At just 6 years old, Satyam is already following in his brother’s footsteps—not by simply copying what Jahan has done, but by finding his own way to help.

And that may be the best family tradition of all.