Sam Kieffer, who is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is 9 years old, could teach us all a lesson about compassion and activism.

When Sam learned that some kids his age go without meals frequently, he was totally taken aback.

"I can't survive a day without eating dinner," he said, "so I can't imagine how people feel when they don't have anything for dinner for a week."

But Sam did more than just reflect on the unfairness of a lack of food—he took action to remedy it in his community. Working with his parents, Sam set up an outdoor food pantry called Sam's Blessings, where non-perishable goods and toiletries are available for free for those in need.

If you ask Sam what sparked this amazing project, he shared that "It just didn't seem right to me" that some young kids didn't have enough to eat or enough water to drink.

And there's even more charitable work going on in Sam's family! Sam and his siblings are raise money for research into epidermoid brain tumors, a condition that their father lives with. To date, the Kieffer kids have raised more than $7,000 to fund research.

Showing his deep awareness of the importance of the compassionate projects he has taken on, Sam said that "this small thing could make a big impact in every community."

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