Community News

Loops of Love Project Wins Dragon Kim Foundation’s 2026 Dragon Challenge

 

by: Dan Pittman
Published: October 13, 2026

 

MindcraftHers’ Eugenia Kang and London Niemie;  Loops of Love’s Anusha Jauhri and Anisha Ravi; and Talking Points’ Ethan Shapiro and Krish Prem.

 

IRVINE...The Dragon Kim Foundation, an Orange County-based nonprofit - http://dragonkimfoundation.org - whose mission is to inspire our youth to impact their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions, has announced that Loops of Love is the winner of the 2026 Dragon Challenge.

The Challenge took place on September 26 in the Margaret A. Webb Theatre located on the campus of the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana, California.
Loops of Love was created by teens Anisha Ravi and Anusha Jauhri, both of Portola High School in Irvine. Their heartfelt community service project brought comfort, connection, and hope to children facing difficult circumstances through teaching them to crochet toys and plushies.

Through the project, youth volunteers combined creativity with community service to help children in hospitals, foster care, homeless shelters, disability centers, and crisis-affected communities feel seen and cared for.

Anusha Jauhri, left, is joined on stage by CBSLA anchor Suzie Suh, and Anusha’s project partner Anisha Ravi, right.

They bested five other finalist teams chosen from 37 Fellowship projects run by 77 California high school students this summer.  Loops of Love was awarded another $5,000 to continue their project.

“Winning the challenge brought me back to the first girl I gifted a white bear to,” said Anisha. “When I think of that moment, I remember all the children we have reached, and it makes me hopeful for the future, when one day I can gift something to my friend in Ukraine.  To me, gift-giving has always been a beautiful way of showing love, and this project has truly shown me how much of a difference a small passion can make.”

Anusha reflected on the victory.  “Winning the challenge, to me, is a way to prove to my freshman self that she could do it. I never would have imagined coming into high school that my passion for crochet could go this far and touch so many lives. I ’ve always used crochet as a way to honor my grandmother, and seeing Loops of Love grow into what it is today reminds me that she would have been so proud of the work I’ve done.”

Two teams were judged as runners-up and received $4,000 each from a private donor to continue their projects.  They were MindcraftHers, a project created by Eugenia Kang and London Niemiec of  La Canada High School, and Talking Points by Ethan Shapiro and Krish Prem of University High School in Irvine.
 MindcraftHers helped grade school girls build strong mental foundations and positive self-images by using 2–3-hour workshops to introduce them to various mindfulness techniques and activities.

Talking Points included a summer camp that developed students' confidence and skills needed to effectively communicate with teachers, peers, and future employers, helping to eliminate the socioeconomic “voice gap”—the imbalance between students who have learned real-world communication strategies and those who have not.

The other finalists were:  Healing Hoops is a project created by Maranatha High School of Pasadena students Ethan Kim, Ryden Shiozak, and Ryder Wong that featured a summer camp in Altadena where many students were negatively impacted by the fires.  By incorporating basketball and social-emotional activities, their goal was to help them heal from their trauma. 

Green Steps, a project created by Arianna Lai of University High School in Irvine, helped to spread climate and sustainable awareness through arts and crafts.
Untold Pages by Dana Elquza of Yorba Linda High School included a creative writing initiative that empowered immigrant and first-generation students to share their stories and journeys. 

Through guided workshops, mentorship, and publication opportunities, students developed personal narratives that explored identity, culture, and lived experience while helping challenge stereotypes and bridge cultural divides.

The judges were Bill Taormina, CEO and Founder of Clean City, Inc.;  David Kim, Co-founder and Managing Partner of The Bascom Group, LLC; and Wing Lam, Co-founder of Wahoo’s Fish Taco.  The emcee was Suzie Suh of CBSLA, who is the first Korean American primetime news anchor in Los Angeles.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Foundation, whose Fellowship program empowers high school students of all demographics and social backgrounds to go out into the world and make a difference in the lives of others, especially those who are disadvantaged.

Annually, the Fellowship program awards community service grants of up to $5,000 to the teams that enables them to create and manage a service project that will impact their community.

Last year, the project winning the Dragon Challenge was Life Savers Phoenix, a free program that equipped under-resourced children aged 8-12 with essential life-saving skills, including CPR, AED use, first aid, choking response, bleeding control, and other emergency preparedness procedures, through hands-on training led by the teens who are certified instructors.

For more information and to apply for the 2027 Dragon Fellowship, visit http://dragonkimfoundation.org.

The Fellowship was founded in honor of the late Dragon Kim, a talented young musician, athlete, and scholar who wanted to help others, and has become a seedbed for the next generation of creative thinkers and entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in their communities.

Photos: Drago Kim Foundation