What We Run
Programs, Scholarships
& Giveaways
Housing and supplies are the floor. These are the things we do on top of it — for the young people in Hampton Roads who get skipped by everybody else.
CERTIFIED
Every month, three young people in Hampton Roads get certified.
They receive a package — the kind brands send to influencers — put together for them by name. They open it. It’s theirs.
That’s the whole program. Not a prize for the highest grades. Not an essay contest. A package for a kid who has never in their life been sent anything by anybody, at the age when that lands hardest.
Teenagers are the group everybody forgets. Every back-to-school drive in America is built for the nine-and-under crowd, and the thirteen-year-old standing in the same line knows exactly what’s happening. Meanwhile they’re watching hundreds of unboxing videos a week and have quietly worked out that packages like that go to a certain kind of person, and that they aren’t one.
CERTIFIED exists to be wrong about that, three times a month.
How it works
- 1Anyone can applyA parent, a teacher, a coach, a pastor, a neighbour, a relative — anyone. All we require is the permission of the nominee’s parent or guardian, which we confirm by phone before anything moves forward.
- 2We select three each monthAges 13–18, anywhere in Hampton Roads. No minimum grades. No follower count. Applications not chosen roll into the next month.
- 3We build the packageAssembled for that specific young person, using what our brand partners send us. Screened for age and allergies before anything goes in.
- 4They open itThat’s it. No obligation to post, film, tag, or thank anybody. They keep everything either way.
How we keep this safe
- Everything ships to Lead With Fayeth — never to a young person’s home. No brand or donor ever receives a participant’s address or personal information.
- A parent or guardian applies and signs. No young person enrolls themselves.
- No brand or donor ever contacts a participant directly. All communication runs through us.
- Photography consent is separate, optional, and can be withdrawn at any time. Participation is never conditioned on it.
- We never publish last names, schools, neighborhoods, or addresses — and never disclose anything about a family’s circumstances.
- Two adults are present at every handoff.
CERTIFIED
Apply or Nominate
Anyone can start this — a parent, a teacher, a coach, a neighbor, an aunt. A parent or guardian finishes it.
Named For People We Loved
Scholarships
Two funds, named for two children we raised and lost. Raheem was fifteen. Kanaurie was fourteen. They grew up together, and everything on this page exists because they did.
Debo’s Dream
In loving memory of Raheem Brown · 15
They called him Debo because of what he did on a football field. He dominated it. He was funny, and kind, and protective of the people he loved, and he was happiest laughing with a plate in front of him and everybody he cared about in the room.
He was fifteen. He was taken from us far too soon.
Debo’s Dream sponsors one teenage boy in Hampton Roads every year — covering what it actually costs to stay in the game. Registration fees. Cleats and equipment. A camp. A physical. The ordinary expenses that quietly end a season for a kid whose family can’t cover them, long before talent ever gets a say.
Eligibility, amount and deadlines will be posted here when applications open.
Kanaurie’s Heart
In loving memory of Kanaurie King-Roberson · 14
Kanaurie loved to sing, and she had the kind of smile that got into a room before she did. Her teachers told us the same thing over and over: that she was the girl who sat with the kids nobody else sat with. She made sure they never ate lunch alone.
She was fourteen, and she was already doing the work this whole organization was built to do. She had a heart of gold, and she was taken from us far too soon.
Kanaurie’s Heart supports one young woman in Hampton Roads every year — a scholarship toward college or trade school, or a back-to-school shopping spree for a girl who needs the year to start differently. Both count. Not every road runs through a university, and this fund was never going to pretend otherwise.
Eligibility, amount and deadlines will be posted here when applications open.
Want to contribute to either fund, or sponsor one outright? Get in touch.
Announced As They Happen
Giveaways
Throughout the year we run giveaways for families across Hampton Roads. Some are planned. Some happen because something came in and somebody needed it that week.
Bill Pay Assistance
Help with a utility bill, a phone bill, or the one payment that would otherwise start a much bigger problem.
Gift Cards
Groceries, gas, school supplies — handed directly to families so they can decide what they actually need.
Surprise Drops
Whatever our partners send that month. Announced on our socials, usually with very little notice.
Giveaways are announced on our social channels and here. Follow along so you don’t miss one.
For Brands
Send Product. Change a Kid’s Month.
CERTIFIED is a standing program, not a one-off drive. You send product. We handle selection, screening, delivery, documentation and reporting.
Why it’s worth your product
It’s the thing you already do. Product goes out to creators every week. This is one week’s worth, pointed at a different set of hands. No new budget, no new program to build.
The math on a normal send is honest and not great. It reaches someone who received six packages that week. Half-opened, maybe a story, one more item on a crowded shelf.
The math here is different. A fifteen-year-old who has never been given anything by anybody opens a box with their name on it. They keep the box. If they film it, nobody paid them, nobody briefed them, and every person watching can tell. And they buy that brand for the next twenty years, because somebody showed up before they were worth anything to anyone.
What we need
Product suitable for ages 13–18, in any quantity. Three covers a month. Nine covers a quarter. Overstock, returns, testers, discontinued shades, retired collections, imperfect packaging and near-dated stock are all equally welcome — often more useful to us than new inventory.
What you receive
- A formal in-kind donation receipt. Contributions are tax-deductible. We’re a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 99-4905731.
- A written report on exactly where every item went — more accountability than a creator send will ever give you.
- Recognition however you prefer, including none at all. Many partners give privately and we treat that as the default rather than the exception.
- Content from distribution with full usage rights, where families have consented — or nothing at all if you’d rather stay out of it.
How we protect participants — and you
- A parent or guardian is verified by phone and signs before any young person takes part.
- No brand ever receives a participant’s name, address or personal information.
- No brand ever contacts a participant directly. All communication runs through us.
- Photo consent is separate, optional and revocable. Participation is never conditioned on it.
- No last names, schools, neighborhoods or addresses are ever published, and no participant’s circumstances are ever disclosed.
- Every item is screened for age-appropriateness and allergies before it goes in a package.
- Participants are under no obligation to post, tag, film or thank anyone.
Sponsorship
Product fills the boxes. It doesn’t cover the shipping, the storage, the packaging, the phone calls to verify every guardian, or the scholarships this program sits alongside. Partners who want to underwrite that side of the work can do so as a sponsor.
Sponsorship is entirely optional. Product-only partners are welcome and always will be. Nothing about which young person receives which package is ever influenced by whether a brand has given money.
Supporter
$500
per year
- Name listed as a CERTIFIED supporter on this page
- Named in our annual report
- Written report on where your product went
Sustaining Partner
$1,500
per year
- Name and logo on this page and in program materials
- Named in our annual report
- Written report on where your product went
- Acknowledgment when we announce each month’s cohort
Founding Partner
$5,000
per year
- Name and logo on this page and in all program materials
- Listed as a Founding Partner of CERTIFIED
- Named in our annual report
- Written report on where your product went
- Option to underwrite a named scholarship — we’d talk that through with you
The reason is simple: the moment a package carries an obligation, it stops being a gift, and the young person opening it can feel the difference. Participants are never required to post, film, tag or thank anyone, and that doesn’t change for any amount of money.
Sponsorships are charitable contributions to Lead With Fayeth, a registered 501(c)(3) (EIN 99-4905731), and are tax-deductible as allowed by law. We’ll issue a receipt and a written acknowledgment for your records.
Become a CERTIFIED partner
Fill this in and we’ll come back to you with a shipping address and anything your team needs.