Young Leaders Making a Difference Through Cancer Research, Education and More

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Ishaan Ghosh. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light. 

At a young age, Ishaan Ghosh has become a driving force in the fight against cancer, not only in his local community but across the nation. As the founder and president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization hope2heal, Ishaan has led an inspiring effort to raise cancer awareness among the youth and support those affected by this devastating disease. Alongside his co-founders—Colin Lopes, Vivaan Shah and Shaunak Bhangale—he has built an organization that operates in over eight states and 70 cities, reaching thousands of young people and cancer patients. 

hope2heal is unique in its approach, focusing on educating students in over 50 schools about the biology of cancer and empowering them to take action. The organization’s educational outreach programs mentor students and help them understand what cancer is, how it affects the body and what they can do to contribute to the fight against it. This grassroots effort to inform and engage young people is helping to create a generation that is more aware and compassionate toward those battling cancer. 

One of the standout initiatives of hope2heal is its annual summer donation drives. Each summer, the organization collects items that people no longer want—such as books, toys, clothes and antiques—and donates them to cancer patients or sells them at thrift stores, with the proceeds going to youth cancer research and direct donations to cancer patients and survivors. These drives have raised over $100,000 to date, providing significant support to those in need and contributing to cancer research efforts. 

But Ishaan’s vision for hope2heal doesn’t stop there. He is currently working on developing an assistive technology model that will be used in hospitals to send encouraging messages to cancer patients. This AI resource aims to comfort, reassure and inform patients about what they can expect in their treatment journey, providing a much-needed source of support during a difficult time. 

Read on to find out what drives Ishaan to dedicate his time and talents to this cause.  

Tell us about your volunteer role. 

I’m the cofounder and president of a nonprofit called hope2heal. We are currently based in South Brunswick, New Jersey, but we’ve expanded to eight states across the United States. Specifically, I’m heavily involved with our summer donation drives. We look for things people don’t want – the things that people just collect – that stays sitting at their house.  

What we try to do is collect everyone’s “junk” and try to distribute it to cancer patients. We sort items into things that can be used again and things that are unusable for patients. Through the United Breast Cancer Foundation, we donate the latter items to thrift stores. That money turns into breast cancer and youth cancer research – an often overlooked field. For items we can use, we donate them to Penn Medicine and Rutgers Cancer Institute, with which we have partnerships. Those are resourced out to cancer patients and survivors.  

Some of the other things our organization does is go to elementary and middle schools to educate young people. We all know there are millions of people struggling with cancer. But many people don’t know how they can help, or feel like they need some medical background to help with the cause. But we want to show these young people that anything – from writing a card to donating time – helps out with the cause. My main role as founder is to spread this awareness, as well as helping to build empathy in these young people.  

What inspired you to get started with this initiative? 

The way it started was honestly a little random. A group of friends and I wanted to do some service work that was unique from what others in our community were doing. My parents’ parents live in India, and I see them travel back to India frequently to help them. Cancer runs in my family and several of my family members have the disease. I know my parents want me to pursue my education here, but with them leaving so often to help my grandparents and my aunts and uncles, I felt pretty useless just sitting here. When this group of peers and I wanted to do community service work, it spun into a cancer charity, based on my personal experiences.  

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?  

We started pretty local, and currently, each branch works locally. The New Jersey branch works at New Jersey schools, and so on. So we’re pursuing a national effort by establishing these chapters, but we’re not as united as I’d like to be as an organization. I know we could extend our reach even more with collaboration and a shared national initiative.  

I think that instead of doing something quantifiable – like donation drives and working in schools – if we work with people across the country, we can engage a wider crowd. Since most of us are high school seniors and quite busy with school, we’re waiting on the resources and people power to do that. I’ve been gathering a new generation of hope2heal by contacting some of the rising sophomores and juniors who are interested in working with us.  

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work? 

We wanted to do something with AI, since it’s so big in our world, so we made this assistive technology that’s kind of a chatbot or a virtual friend. If you have a question or want to hear a story – which can be common for cancer patients who might feel lonely – we have that technology integrated now. 

Even more than that, every time we conclude our summer donation drives and drop off thousands of donations at a hospital, visit patients and talk to them, it’s rewarding to see them happy and knowing there are people out there, aside from their close family, who are trying to help them. A lot of people donate toward cancer research but don’t necessarily know where that money is going. And when they see us bringing in clothes, toys and books, they get excited. It’s a way for them to appreciate the work and for us to connect with them.  

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer? 

Everyone has an unspoken desire of wanting other people to recognize their needs. We see people on social media posting about cancer awareness. But often, you don’t see the cancer patients themselves. They often deal with their own struggles on their own. So it struck me that everyone deals with these inner struggles, and our job as humans to really empathize what they’re going through and help them feel seen. As someone who’s never dealt with the illness personally, I can imagine it must be painful and a struggle for them and their families, but the best way for me to empathize is to directly work with these patients.

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

Doing community service in general feels good. When we started this organization, we didn’t have cars. We wanted to get a lot of donations and spread our reach across our area, so we would bike across town with trash bags on our handlebars and backpacks on our backs. While I was exhausted afterward, it felt so rewarding to help the community. Those bike rides might have been a struggle for us, but there are people who are struggling way more. Any type of service work is rewarding when you can help people. A lot of kids my age may start a nonprofit or do volunteer work for college applications, but our team has really found it rewarding and fun.  

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering? 

Honestly, it all comes down to planning. hope2heal wasn’t the first initiative I worked with. We tried something else first, a math tutoring initiative. We just jumped into it, trying to start this nonprofit with little notice and not much traction. But when we worked toward hope2heal, we expanded our reach quickly. We have a team of eight people. We prioritized outreach, since we found that most people don’t really go out and volunteer on their own – they’re usually told about a cause or initiative.  

I’d say, once one person has an idea, don’t be afraid to share it. You never know who else will want to be a part of the movement. Make volunteering into something fun and rewarding. If you’re founding a nonprofit, plan well and delegate tasks accordingly. You may have just accidentally discovered a new passion. 

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