Nia Cruz Cedres

I've been part of the nonprofit world since I was about 8 years old, around 2015. I was born with a congenital heart defect, and growing up, I always felt a bit different. I wanted to help people not feel as different as I did, so I started volunteering with the American Heart Association to meet people who were like me. In middle school, one of my passions has always been animals since I grew up with them, so I created my own fundraiser for the Humane Society and we collected hundreds of items. In 2017, I went to visit family in Puerto Rico and got hit by Hurricane Maria while I was there. That was the first time I witnessed the devastation of hurricanes, and from that experience, I started working with hurricane relief efforts. I helped with Maria, did a food drive to send to Puerto Rico with my family, and worked with Milton that hit recently in Florida. Nonprofits has always been a part of my life because I believe giving back to your community is the most important thing you can do. I want to become a criminal defense lawyer eventually, and I believe you need to have a foundation of humbleness and know the community you're going to represent. When I began college this semester in 2025, I wanted to officially work for a nonprofit organization. I found the Kind Mouse because it was close to my school, and I loved their mission. I met with the founder and CEO, Gina, and we clicked instantly - she became like a mentor to me. I've been working there since September as a data manager and event coordinator, though I'm more the data manager but help with all of that stuff. I've done events, collected food drives, and spoken at schools, agencies, and events. We have our biggest event called Mice and Dice coming up in a week, and we've raised almost $60,000 so far.