The nonprofit, started by Mt. Laurel resident and high school freshman Carter Taylor, provides science experiments to sick children.
Mt. Laurel resident and Lenape High School freshman Carter Taylor has spent the last three years combining his love of science with his desire to help others.
Since seventh grade, Carter has run Science for Sick Dayz, his own non-profit organization that helps distribute fun science experiments to sick or hospitalized children who are unable to regularly attend school.
Now Carter is once again asking the public to support that effort by attending Science for Sick Dayz’s annual bowling fundraiser on April 1 at Laurel Lanes bowling alley.
With bowling, pizza, raffle baskets, a 50/50 raffle and more, Carter said funds raised from the event will help Science for Sick Dayz bring more science-related fun to children who need it most.
“We’re just a non-profit organization that likes to help young children feel better through the power of science and technology while they’re sick or in the hospital receiving treatment,” Carter said.
Carter, who was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when he was just 4 weeks old, said he first had the idea of Science for Sick Dayz as he approached his confirmation at church and began to involve himself with community service in relation to the New Jersey National Junior Honor Society.
With a strong desire to chose a form of community service that would mean something to him on a personal level, Carter thought back to all the time he spent in the hospital growing up and all the interesting science experiments he might have missed at school.
With that, Science for Sick Dayz was born.
“It gives you a good feeling to help someone who isn’t yourself,” Carter said. “We’ve helped kids who have leukemia or brain tumors, so it’s definitely not a happy time for them, but when they get our kits they have at least a few minutes of joy and happiness.”
Last year alone, Carter said Science for Sick Dayz was able to distribute about 300 science kits. Since the nonprofit began, Carter said kits have gone to places such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Ronald McDonald Houses of Camden and Philadelphia, and even Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio.
Carter said kits can use simple items such as balloons, strings and pieces of tissue paper to teach kids about concepts such as static electricity or propulsion, and Carter said children’s therapists at hospitals have told him how they’ve watched kids time and again as they have fun learning with the kits.
“It’s just like how I like science because I like putting things together and taking them apart,” Carter said. “It’s really cool to play around with things and discover.”
This year’s fundraiser will last from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 1 at Laurel Lanes, with a cost of $15 for those ages 11 and under and $20 per person for ages 12 and up. Full lanes are available for $100. Admission includes shoes, pizza, soda, snacks and dessert.
Those interested in learning more about Science for Sick Dayz or signing up for this year’s Science for Sick Dayz bowling fundraiser can visit www.scienceforsickdayz.org.
For questions, call (609) 744–0104 or email scienceforsickdayz@gmail.com.
