Shorewood Senior Katie Eder awarded prestigious Helen Diller Family Foundation grant for Kids Tales non-profit

Shorewood High School Senior Katie Eder from was recently awarded $36,000 by the Helen Diller Family Foundation in recognition of her commitment to tikkun olam (repair the world).

At a luncheon at San Francisco’s Four Seasons Hotel Katie, along with 14 other young leaders from across the nation, received the prestigious honor given to youth leaders who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, community service and action.

Katie was selected for this award among hundreds of teens because of her work on Kids Tales, a non-profit she created to teach underprivileged kids creative writing skills.

"I think writing is important in every field," Eder tells CBS 58 News. "Writing has power to do something special that the others don't do. It gives kids a voice."

Since starting it at age 13, Katie has now grown the project to include 200 teens who are teaching more thanr 1,000 children across the globe, including in a refugee camp in Hungary.

She now plans on utilizing the $36,000 and the connections she made with the other teens and previous award winners at the luncheon to continue recruiting teenager mentors so she can reach more children, summer camps and classrooms.

The luncheon celebration was the culmination of a weekend-long series of business strategy workshops, networking and mentoring initiatives, during which award winners exchanged ideas with other socially conscious peers and interacted with Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award alumni from years past who are continuing their social justice work. We can connect you with award committee members who can discuss the value of not just recognizing youth accomplishments, but creating events where teens can gain the tools needed to turn their social good visions into reality.

To find out more about Kids Tales click here

To find out more about the Diller Teen Awards click here