The  We Cancerve Movement, Inc.

Zachary Gwiazda, 16, is a high school junior and chair of the youth-led We Cancerve Movement, Inc., a nonprofit established in 2012 that has impacted the lives of more than 33,000 children from five states and four countries experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, fighting critical illness, and aging out of foster care.  

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As chair, he leads nine dedicated youth through successful service projects, which have included community events that have attracted more than 100 mostly youth volunteers since he took over chairmanship in 2023, and that resulted in more than 3,500 Brunch Bags packed with nonperishable breakfast and lunch items for area youth experiencing food insecurity. The bags also served as meal alternatives to more than 100 hospitalized children in area respite facilities. Skilled at partnerships, he participates in new business and partnership meetings with C-suite executives at collaborator organizations including Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Maryland Food Bank, and the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore. A talented public speaker, he’s presented We Cancerve’s success story in Harford County government chambers, at area business networking events and as a vendor during local arts and culture events.

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As co-creator, editor and host of our children’s TV show “On the Move with We Cancerve,” which he helped launch in 2023, Zachary plays a key role in planning  each 30-minute episode.  His signature feature “Zack Around Town” spotlights local businesses, especially those that promote food security such as local farms, markets and the Maryland Food Bank – all complimentary to the show’s healthy, affordable cooking tutorial segment called Spork’d. Like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, We Cancerve’s Spork’d project delivers boxes of fresh ingredients packaged with kid-tested recipes to families transitioning from homelessness, and to youth aging out of foster care. Under his leadership, the show is entering its third season in summer 2025. In its first year, episodes aired on HarfordTV 249+ times, and was viewed more than 2,000 times on HarfordTV’s video-on-demand page and YouTube Channel. In its first year, the show’s landing page had 393 unique visitors; that’s on average at least a new viewer a day since the show premiered! This show is also shown in area classrooms to introduce students to community service and to promote upcoming events for anyone interested in lending a helping hand in the community.

 

Zack oversees the award-winning nonprofit’s core mission projects and the food security portfolio, which is comprised of four longstanding projects that have service several thousand children. He’s also the project leader for the Threads of Hope Clothing Closet at a community school that’s in walking distance of the largest homeless service organization in his county. He plans and organizes inventory restock, thanks to donations received from major retailers Jos A. Bank and Macy’s. He also led a 2023 dental hygiene drive distributed more than 900 dental health items through 2024 to youth and families in need in Harford and Baltimore Counties, as well as unhoused teens and young adults in Washington, DC. His leadership of the nonprofit’s 2024 Childhood Cancer Awareness Month fundraiser for the We Cancerve Pediatric Patient Assistance Fund at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore is the biggest fundraiser for the nonprofit to date. Completely youth-led and directed, his inspirational leadership resulted in raising more than $8,000 in 2024.  

 

Thanks to funds he won as a 2023 Hormel Foods inaugural 10 Under 20 Rising Star, he helped plan and lead massive service projects at the Ronald McDonald House of Maryland in the Spring and Summer 2024 preparing and serving more than 260 meals to critically-ill children and their parents. During his time as chair, he played a key role in We Cancerve being named the Baltimore Orioles' 2024 Birdland Community Hero Award winner, which came with a $5,000 grant, and the Elevate Prize GET LOUD Award winner, which came with a $10,000 grant.

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Drawn to helping others, he began volunteering with We Cancerve in February 2022, and embraced the mission of bringing happiness to children through the organization’s many initiatives. After consistently volunteering for over a year, he was selected by We Cancerve’s Founder to lead the organization in May 2023.

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His passion for making his community a better place for everyone who lives in it, Zack, as a young child, joined his brother in creating cards with their own artwork that they sold to raise money to donate to Habitat for Humanity and Kennedy Krieger.

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"When I was in elementary school, I made cards and sold them to raise money for Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake because I wanted everyone to have a home. I continued this until Covid. From 2017-2022, I was an active volunteer on the Bear Legacy Trail in Bel Air, helping to build and maintain trails and trail features. Since 2019, I have volunteered in a variety of capacities at Emmanuel Episcopal Church Bel Air, including working as a Vacation Bible School assistant and doing gardening on the church property; since summer 2022 I have been an active member of the Video Team that livestreams Sunday services."

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In his freshman year at Bel Air High School, he served as a member of the tech crew for the Bel Air Drama Company, for both the Fall and Spring productions.  He also participated in the high school chorus, and served as a member of the high school Cat’s Eye Morning Announcement team, and the Interactive Media Production Program. He plans to continue all of these activities through high school. ​