(WBRE/WYOU) — A local woman is a quarter finalist in a national competition to win money for her nonprofit, and she's seeking support from the community to help her advance to the next round.
The NEPA native says the winnings would help her expand her organization's impact.
Kylee McGrane-Zarnoch is a Wilkes-Barre native and a graduate of Coughlin High School. She's also the Founder and Executive Director of a Moment of Magic, a nonprofit that brings joy to hospitalized and medically vulnerable children.
Raise the Region helping PA communities
Spreading smiles to kids in hospitals across the country is the goal of a Moment of Magic.
Since its start in 2014, the nonprofit has served 150,000 children.
"Our goal is to improve the mental health and quality of children that have medical vulnerabilities," said Mcgrane-Zarnoch.
Kylee McGrane-Zarnoch is the Founder and Executive Director of a Moment of Magic. Her organization empowers and trains college students nationwide to volunteer at area pediatric hospitals and lead play-based activities.
"So we do arts programs. We do character and superhero visits. We really wanna change the hospitalization space to make it more approachable and welcoming for kids there, and really help them have experiences where they just get to be a kid," explained McGrane-Zarnoch.
The NEPA native has even started a Moment of Magic chapter right here at home, at Misericordia University.
She's currently competing in the national entrepreneur of impact challenge. If she wins, she'll be featured in Forbes magazine, and she'd get something even better: $25,000 to invest into a Moment of Magic.
"We are able to do so much with so little, so a 25,000 dollar donation would be transformational for our organization," voiced McGrane-Zarnoch.
McGrane says the money would allow the nonprofit to expand and serve 500 new children.
"So being able to train new volunteers, being able to implement our programs in hospitals, that's five hundred children that have access to new programs like ours that would have access to programs that just focus on them as a person not as a patient," added McGrane-Zarnoch.
Voting in the quarter-finals closes at 11:00 p.m. Thursday. In order to advance to the next round, Kylee needs to be in first place. Right now, she's in a close second.
