MILWAUKEE – Frigo Cheese Heads proudly announces the 35 winners of its “Build a Bright Future” vision grants. These vision grants support inspiring youth working to achieve their dreams of building a brighter future for themselves and their communities through business or community-building ideas. Now in its 10th year, the “Build a Bright Future” program is aligned with the brand’s mission to encourage tweens and teens to embrace individuality and creativity. Each of the 2024 winners will receive grant money, along with online leadership courses and mentorship from partner organization Whatever It Takes (WIT).
“Frigo Cheese Heads is proud to empower tweens and teens doing good in their communities by helping bring their bright ideas to life through our vision grants,” said Nicole Austin, Saputo USA marketing manager. “We’re honored to support these incredible young people and hope these grants can fuel their dreams and help them continue to build a brighter future.”
The five grand prizewinners will each receive a $5,000 grant and a custom virtual mentorship program in which they will learn directly from participating CEOs, entrepreneurs and influencers. All 35 winners are invited to attend a four-week entrepreneurial/leadership course to enhance their skills and knowledge to advance their big dreams and ambitions, along with a year of access to the WIT (Whatever It Takes) Community, a virtual membership-based entrepreneurial community with tweens and teens from around the world.
Meet the grand prizewinners:
- Ruby Chalupka, 14, of Austin, Texas, creator of LunchLine Candles, a lunch-scented candle business that helps fund free lunches for kids in need.
- Barrett Deng, 15, of Santa Cruz, California, inventor of Clore, a company that produces an innovative and effective fire retardant that is easily accessible by those in communities most affected by wildfires.
- Julia Howe, 15, of San Francisco, California, co-founder of Hitting the Wall, a podcast and community of teen athletes who share their experiences and provide accessible mental and physical health resources for girls in sports.
- Anvi Saxena, 15, of Dallas, Texas, co-founder of Rallying for Refugees, an organization dedicated to helping refugees in the Dallas community make new connections and feel at home.
- Olivia Wilson, 15, of New York, New York, creator of Covers for Recovery, a charity focused on donating books to children in five New York-area hospitals.
Ten first-prizewinners will receive $3,000 grants and 20 honorable mention winners will receive $1,000 grants – these first-prize and honorable mention winners created projects such as an engineering program for girls, environmentally friendly pet toys and a service that repairs and upcycles used appliances.
The application period, which ran from Oct. 11 through Dec. 2, 2023, invited tweens and teens ages 8-15 to share creative ideas and short video pitches for their businesses, nonprofits or side hustles, with the help of their parent or guardian. Applications were judged based on creativity, merit and purpose.
A comprehensive list of the 35 winners and their projects can be viewed at BuildABrightFuture.com. For more information from Frigo Cheese Heads, visit FrigoCheeseHeads.com or follow along Facebook, Instagram or TikTok @FrigoCheeseHeads and #BuildaBrightFuture.
About Frigo Cheese Heads
The Frigo Cheese Heads brand features a variety of delicious, fun on-the-go snacks and encourages creative snacking and self-expression. Chomp, peel, twist, rip, nibble or tie into a braid; the only wrong way to eat Frigo Cheese Heads is to not eat them at all. With everyday snacking options like regular or light string cheese as well as cheese and meat combo packs, Frigo Cheese Heads are a good source of calcium and protein in a convenient individually wrapped, tasty snack. Learn more at FrigoCheeseHeads.com.
About Saputo USA
Saputo USA is part of Saputo Inc., one of the top 10 dairy processors in the world. Through the Dairy Division (USA), Saputo produces, markets and distributes a vast assortment of cheeses. Furthermore, the company converts, markets and sells a broad range of specialty cheeses and holds an important portfolio of import licenses for specialty cheeses manufactured abroad. Saputo USA also produces a variety of dairy and non-dairy extended shelf-life products. Additionally, Saputo produces, markets and distributes dairy ingredients in the USA and on the international market. Products are sold under a variety of the company’s brand names as well as under customer brand names.
Saputo USA is among the top mozzarella, string cheese and domestic blue and goat cheese producers and is one of the largest producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products in this region.
Saputo USA is the trading name of Saputo Cheese USA Inc.
About WIT
WIT (Whatever It Takes) was started in 2009 by a former elementary school teacher turned entrepreneur. To date, more than 5,000 tweens and teens around the world have participated in a WIT college-credit class, hackathon or pitch event. Learn more at doingwit.org.
