WSHU’s Randye Kaye spoke with Giada Licursi and Nola Somerville for Good at Heart. The series explores the best in humanity — from acts of kindness to community service projects like theirs.
Kaye first met Licursi and Somerville at her hometown library, where they were collecting clothing and school supplies. Intrigued by their work, she later invited them to the WSHU studio to discuss their project.
WSHU: So you have something called The Pulse Project. Can you tell me about it? You know? What is it? Who do you help? How do you do it?
GL: So we both were kind of inspired to start a service project, just mainly like amplifying some great resources in our community, but also forming some space where kids can reach out to us, or we can help people just in our neighboring communities with things that they need, like at certain times of need, like we just had our back to school drive, which you mentioned, we also like try to plan things around the holidays that we're going to start doing, just to give everybody kind of a space where we can post on social media and kind of create a platform to have people tell us about their needs.
WSHU: Did you two just like, get together and say, 'Hey, let's start a thing,' like how did this happen?
NS: We kind of just had the idea that we wanted to do something with our time, do something productive, and do something to help, and we've been friends for a while, and we just believe in a lot of the same things. We share many of the same values, and we thought that using our time, voices, and platforms for a good cause was something we were really interested in doing and doing together.
WSHU: I love it. So this particular project, now I know you're going to be going all year long. Was this your first big ask? Yes, and you worked with whom for this?
GL: We worked with The Umbrella Center for domestic violence. Yeah, they were a really great charity. Nola already knew about them because she had done some work with them in the past, and we thought they'd be a great first drive for school supplies, because it coincided perfectly with their own back-to-school drive schedule. And we just saw a need, and we were like, Hey, we can help out. Tell us what you need.
WSHU: What is Umbrella? What do they do?
NS: The Umbrella Center for domestic violence. They have different locations throughout Connecticut and are part of a larger organization, BH Care. I first learned about them through their Sponsor A Student program, which my mom has been a part of for years. Essentially, they maintain lists of students and individuals who need a sponsor, and you purchase school supplies for them. And we thought that that was a really good idea, really good concept. So we kind of adopted that into our back-to-school drive, and we just collected a lot more supplies for kids who might not have had someone to sponsor them, or throughout the year, when more kids might come along that need school supplies, clothing, and self-care items, and all of that.
WSHU: How did the drive do? How'd you do in front of the library for five hours on a weekend?
GL: I'm honestly so impressed with how people were able to like, show up for us, even like people we really didn't even know that didn't follow us on social media, were coming to library like you did, and would stop by and they would go and get, like, school supplies from their kids that they didn't use, or just come by again and drop off stuff that I've never even heard of, some of these people, and they were doing like the most to help us. I'm honestly impressed by our community.
WSHU: See, now that brings tears to my eyes. This is why we're doing this. Because I believe that if you tell people how to help, they are more likely to do so, and you're doing a wonderful thing by showing them how to help. How do people find you? Right now, you've just started on Instagram and TikTok, right? So where do they find you?
GL: So, we do have an email address for The Pulse project, which is thepulseproject25@gmail.com. We really want to use our platform to amplify existing charities, giving people a space to see what this work is doing, while also showcasing other charities and promoting them on our page. We have our Tiktok and our Instagram too, that we also want to use to like the Tiktok more to, like tell us about our daily lives and how we can implement working with the project and the Instagram to promote different charities and repost some resources and some like, great infographics for people to see, even if you're not directly involved with an organization, just to like, see as an outsider what these organizations are doing
WSHU: Okay? So you want charities to reach out to you to see how you can help them, and you'll decide if this is a good fit. And you also want fellow students to help out. Is this happening? Are fellow students stepping up to the plate?
NS: Yeah, we had lots of friends who were interested in knowing what we were about, knowing what we do. Lots of people in our school stopped. By who were coming to the library, and they asked us questions about what we were doing, and something that we want to do with our social media platforms is that's a really good way to reach a lot of teens who need resources, mental health resources, which we're always reposting and advocating for, and kids who need access to that. It's a good way for them to find that information through social media and connections with their peers, and it's a really important topic to discuss and advocate for, spreading awareness.
WSHU: So I want to ask you, young ladies, who inspires you? What do you think made you the kind of people that you are, who helps you, who inspires you to be who you are, and take this on?
NS: My family definitely inspires me, and has always helped me to become the person I am today. My parents, especially, they've always taught me to do more for others, to treat other people the way that I would want to be treated, to be aware of, you know, like the big picture, and just doing what you can with your position and your situation, to give back to other people, and my family and my mom, my dad, my aunt, all of them, they've just always inspired me to be the best version of myself that I can be.
GL: Obviously, my family as well, but also my school community, because at Trumbull High, we have a lot of great resources that have been spurred from events at Trumbull High. Like the one that's coming to mind right now is My Friend Abby, which is a charity for suicide prevention, and I just like, in our school community, they're so ingrained in our culture that, like, it inspired me to be like, Yeah, I can be more hands on in doing some sort of work, and it's not, it's not out of the ordinary, and it's not like, something that's gonna totally like be too big for me to take on, like as a student, because there's already so many student run like charities out there.
WSHU: So is there anything we need to know about who else can help you do what you're doing? Where would your help come from? What would you like people to do once they're aware of your project? How could they help you?
GL: I think reposting some of our posts would do an amazing job of getting traction on our page. If anyone is like, a representative of any sort of like nonprofit or charity that wants to get in touch, emailing is like the go to for us, we are totally open with working with like, anyone who has similar like values and like wants to use our page. And yeah, I honestly encourage everyone to reach out to see how they can get involved.
WSHU: So, it's not just the two of you. It's the two of you and your friends? So, it's not just a two-woman show. You have other people who need volunteers to come and help with things.
NS: Yeah. We have so many friends who are just awesome and always looking to help. And so many people are always interested in these kinds of things and always are looking to help, but maybe don't, you know, find the time to or find the place to, and this is a really good way just to get out there and do that.
WSHU: Is there any particular quote or philosophy that rings a bell in your head as something that guides you or inspires you?
GL: One of my favorite authors is John Green, and he said something that really spoke to me. It was, how strange and lovely it is to be anything at all, and it just kind of spoke to me. I was like, Yeah, we're doing something, and it's strange and it's lovely. And it might seem a little bit in your face to be like, Hey, we're looking for donations, but it's honestly going to such a good cause, and it's kind of beautiful.
NS: Definitely. I already mentioned this before, but something that my parents always told me was that there were three things: to treat people the way you want to be treated, to always do more for others, and to be aware of the big picture and everybody around you. And I really think those go hand in hand with what we want to promote and what we really stand for is just doing more for others with what you have, treating people the way that you want to be treated, and just being aware of everybody and their situations, and always trying to find ways to help.
WSHU: I think, with the attitudes and the inspiration that you have. You girls are going to go far. And if anybody dares say this younger generation is so selfish, I challenge you to listen to this podcast and change your mind. Last question, why do you think we're here on this earth?
NS: I really do think that we're all here to make connections and to find other people and to help each other, and really just to find community and just connections and help and all of that, just that whole journey.
GL: Yeah. Honestly, what Nola said is that we're here to care about other people. It wouldn't be human if there weren't more than one human we ought to care about everybody else.
