The World Is Her Canvas: A Teen Spreads Inspiration Through Art

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Mahika Bansal. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Mahika Bansal may only be 14 years old, but her journey to using her artistic skills to support her community started several years ago.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mahika wasn’t too confident in her artistic abilities. While she always loved painting and cooking, Mahika wasn’t sure if the public would be interested in her work. But all it took was a nudge from her mother to give Mahika a little inspiration and a surge of confidence.

Stuck at home with not a lot to do during the pandemic, Mahika decided to create and sell paintings to raise funds for Seattle Children’s Hospital. The fundraiser ultimately brought in over $1,000, and bolstered Mahika’s confidence to take her volunteer mission to the next level. She created Create2Help, a youth-led nonprofit organization that uses art and cooking to support the community. Whether she’s using the money she wins from a local art competition to send art supplies to children in India or working with local women’s shelters to host painting classes, Mahika’s goal is to give those going through a difficult time a moment of peace and creativity. When they step into one of Mahika’s classes, participants can leave their stress behind and focus on being creative. Her dedication to giving people a space to let go of their worries is an inspiration for us all.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I’m a very empathetic person, so I always see different opportunities to help the community around me. I see different people struggling, and I always want to make a difference in their lives by utilizing some of my talents and spreading those talents to others.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Create2Help.

I’m the founder of the organization. We intend to help the community by providing free painting classes for seniors in memory care units and women who have experienced physical abuse or homelessness. We also host different events, like art supply and food drives. The goal is helping the community and helping to give people the space to be creative without any other worries. My role really depends on what kind of event I’m intending to do next. So for example, in the past I’ve done a greeting card drive. So depending on what stage of the process I’m in, I might either create a form and advertise it to get people to donate greeting cards or I would talk to different organizations to potentially donate greeting cards to.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

Ever since I was young, I’ve always loved painting and cooking. Then during COVID, I had a lot of time on my hands and was creating a lot of paintings in my free time. I had a bunch of them just laying around in my house. I decided to create a fundraiser to sell my paintings, and I donated the money that I raised to Seattle Children’s Hospital. I thought that that was such a rewarding experience that I decided that I wanted to do more of that. I thought that it was such an amazing thing that I could use my painting talents to make a large impact in the community, so I decided to create Create2Help.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned a lot of things throughout my journey, like organizing my time, talking to other people and learning to be very empathetic with others. Since I started when I was very young, learning that other people have a lot of struggles helped me shape my outlook on life.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

Something that I’m working on right now is continuing to work with The Sophia Way, an organization that helps women who have experienced homelessness and provides them with meals and shelter. I’ve been doing a lot of work with them. In the future, I’m planning on working on doing more impactful and larger events with them and I’m really excited about that.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

It’s always a good idea for people to use things that they are good at to help others. If you enjoy doing something, then why not use that talent to help others and spread that joy that you feel? Help because you want to help, not because you feel obligated to. I think that people should always try to find ways to be excited about helping others.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

If someone wants to start volunteering, figure out in what way. There are so many different ways that someone can take a step forward and help their community. I think the first step is really figuring out how you want to help, what you’re passionate about, and what things you can bring forward to the community to help.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I just really want people, especially younger women, to know that they are capable of helping others with their talents. I don’t want people to feel scared about using what they’re passionate about as an outlet to help people in their community. People who don’t think that they’re able to help the community should always find the confidence in themselves and understand that they have the ability to help others.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Mahika? Find local volunteer opportunities