Today we’d like to introduce you to Anita And Mia (daughter) Pease.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hello, my name is Anita Pease and I am the Founder and the Executive Director of Small Hands Big Hearts United. Our nonprofit believes every child is born instinctively compassionate and it is our responsisbility to provide an environment to nurture that compassion when a child or teen shows any compassionate spark. Neuroscientists at both Princeton and Emory University also found this to be true. Joshua Greene and Jonathan Cohen of Princeton found that compassion isn’t simply a fickle and irrational emotion, but rather an innate human response embedded in our brains. James Rilling and Gregory Berns of Emory found that people’s brains lit up and reacted with pleasure when given the opportunity to help others. Small Hands Big Hearts United began for the sole purpose of “nurturing children’s instinctive compassion to others and the world around them”. It is in this simple mission, that we believe our kids can make the world they inherit a much better and compassionate place for all. My family started SHBHU in 2013 for the Triangle community to use at a moments notice to help nurture their childrens compassion as well. We provide a resource to children and teens of any age to propose, organize and lead service projects for causes they care about at a moment’s notice. We also introduce other local and global nonprofit missions and encourage them to brainstorm on unique and accessible ways to contribute to thier missions as well regardles of age, time restraints or logisitical or financial barriers.
Hello my name is Mia Pease. I am a Junior at Apex High School. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines. My family witnessed something devastating on TV and although very young, my siblings and I remember that moment to this day. At 5 years old, I remember sitting with my siblings and seeing children crying on TV as we watched the home they grew up in get wiped away. My parents sat down with us and we came up with a plan. In the following months that next year, my family and I officially started the nonprofit called Small Hands Big Hearts United (SHBHU). SHBHU became a part of my everyday life and still is to this day. Now, at 17 years old, I am presently the Ambassador Teen President for the 2026-2027 school year and it has also been a part of many other youth’s daily life in the Triangle. We use SHBHU as a year-round resource to help us proactively and independently propose, organize and lead service projects (no matter how small) for causes our hearts are drawn to ALL year round. We call these service projects, “Compassion Missions”. Since 2013, within SHBHU, various teams have led and assisted other teams in many Compassion Missions small and large for various causes.
One I would specifically like to speak about is the SHBHU Flip Out for Skylar Compassion Mission. In 2015, I started this service project within SHBHU and this team still exists and is made up of many of our members. A close friend and role model of mine, named Skylar, lives with Cystic Fibrosis. She was also a member and and past Ambassador President of SHBHU and is now 25 years old. She has a specific double mutation which causes her not to be a candidate for many of the available medications. I have been committed to raising funds year round to help find a cure. It started out by simply customizing winter hats and flip flops in the colors of the CFF logo and tie-dying her team shirts and selling them throughout the year. My team and I now make larger scale impacts by volunteering at the annual CFF Great Strides Walk in May and also volunteering at various CFF events such as Pipeline to A Cure fundraiser. Currently, I will be leading a Compassion Mission to raise money for a nonprofit called Filotimo. Filotimo’s mission is to provide direct financial support to adults living with cystic fibrosis, helping cover essential living and medical needs and supporting families. They will be assisting Skylar in her double lung transplant journey in many ways. My team and I will do the same. We will hold fundraisers throughout the summer to assist in this cause and we will be organizing a large Cornhole Tournament in the Fall to raise money to support her lung trasnplant journey as well. We will not stop fundraising until CF stands for CURE FOUND.
I know I speak for all SHBHU members when I say I am thankful for SHBHU because it has allowed my siblings and I and many others in the Triangle community to show compassion to others at a moment’s notice for various causes all year round. SHBHU has taught many youth in the Triangle area valuable leadership, marketing and fundraising skills and most importantly that no matter your age you can make a difference.
Here are some other Compassion Missions currently being led within SHBHU by many members:
SHBHU Holiday Bags of Love Compassion Mission in partnership with Dove Youth Development Center – For 10 years within SHBHU, every November, we hold a collection drive and pack holiday bags with special gifts and school supplies for children and teens in need at Dove Youth Development Center in the Dominican Republic. I believe that showing compassion to others also needs to cross borders. Each year we are given the names and ages of on average 140-150 children at this center. We pack each and every one with a personal touch and send them directly to them. It usually takes us about 2 months to fill all the bags and send them out.
SHBHU Breakfast Bags of Love Compassion Mission in partnership with Meals on Wheels :
We have been packing and delivering breakfast bags throughout the year for 3 years now for our Senior Citizens in need in partnership with Meals on Wheels of Wake County. We have also learned that ¼ of Senior Citizens in need also only have a pet as their only companion. So we also try to collect cat and dog food as well throughout the year to give to the Senior Citizens alongside their breakfast bags. We make these bags personal by decorating each one before we deliver them to Meals on Wheels. No matter your age you can contribute to this service project in some way. We allow members to decorate, pack and/or deliver. No matter your situation you can uniquely help in some way with this cause.
SHBHU Serving Smiles Compassion Mission in partnership with Oak City Cares in downtown Raleigh:
For the past 15 years, our members collect food donations, monetary donations and serve the hungry and homeless in the lunchline at Oak City Cares on the 4th Sunday over every month from 12-2:30pm. Many members who can’t serve in the line have also packed snack bags at other times throughout the year. Again, no matter your age you can contribute to this service project in some way. We allow members to decorate, pack and/or just collect food items or serve in the lunch line. No matter your situation you can also uniquely help in some way with this cause.
SHBHU Bookshelves of Love Compassion Mission in partnership with Habitat for Humanity- Over the past 2 years, this team has built and painted over 30 bookshelves for Habitat for Humanity, Alotta Love, Gigi’s Playhouse, Oak City Cares, Read and Feed and the Jubilee Home. This team also holds book collection drives throughout the year to stock the bookshelves with books before we deliver them. Again, no matter your age you can contribute to this service project in some way. We allow members to build, paint and or just collect books. No matter your situation you can uniquely help in some way with this cause as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When we first started the nonprofit, we had immediate traction. We found that many other families also had the same problem with finding accessible ways for their kids at younger ages to volunteer at local nonprofits. We had a lot of interests and the number of members grew each year. Various Compassion Missions were being led for various causes for various local and even global nonprofits. Hopwever, now many of our founding youth members have now grown to be older teenagers who are indeed still acitve but we have lost traction on the younger members we call Small Handers. We want to always make sure the community knows whether through word of mouth or social media that we are a year round resource for children and teens of ANY age. So currently, we are needing help finding families with younger members to take the wheel and grow their own independent Compassion Missions to keep the momentum of growth. Seeing youth of all ages in our community feel inspired and empowered to make a difference regardless of their age for causes they care about motivates me to keep the SHBHU mission alive and growing.
-Anita Pease Executive Director
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Hello, my name is Anita Pease and I am the Executive Director of Small Hands Big Hearts United. However, I am by no means the reason SHBHU has grown to be what it is today. It is because of the many families and the compassionate youth that have led this nonprofit in every way since 2013. I was a Nurse in the Army and my husband served in the Navy. I was a labor and delivery nurse for 15 years before becoming the Executive Director of SHBHU. My husband and I have tried to teach our 3 children there entire lfe that it is an obligation to serve your community. We have tried to show them also that is up to them to find out whatever gift they have and to uniquely use that to show compassion to another. I have tried to build SHBHU to be an accessible resource for the community to do just that no matter their children’s age or any time restraint or logistical or financial barrier. We feel we have done that as an organization since 2013. Our youth members have been introduced to over 20+ nonprofits since 2013 and have been able to create volunteer opportunites for those nonprofits that did not previously exist. Our nonprofit friends love that we are also supporting and spreading thier missions and encouraging the youth to brainstorm and be creative in making an impact in any way. Many of our founding youth members have now graduated from highschool but they continue to contribute to SHBHU in their adult lives and also make large compassionate impacts in various ways in their communities.
Anita Pease – Executive Director
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I couldn’t help to ask the youth in our nonprofit how SHBHU makes them happy. Without their love for the SHBHU mission, it would not be what it is today. So enjoy a few of our members happy statements! I truly hope you can defintiely include them in the writeup as these words are core to our mission.
“Our favorite part of SHBHU is making people smiles. We like giving ffo, helping other kids and doing kind things. We leaned that even though we are kids, we can still make a big difference!”
-Declan 9 years old and Laney 7 years old
“I love giving back to my community! It brings me so much joy being able to help others in any way I possibly can!”
– Peyton Tiernan, 17 years old
“It makes me happy serving people food!”
– Ty Tiernan, 7 years old
“SHBHU has helped me build friendships, grow as a person, feel supported and valued and be part of something that makes a positive difference for others.”
-Mia Pease, 17 years old
“SHBHU makes me happy because I get to make a positive difference while working with a great team of friends. We’ve prepared and delivered meals to. homeless shelters, collected sweatshirts, books and snacks, built bookshelves, held events to raise money for cancer and so much more. It feels great to help others.”
-Jenna Walsh, 16 years old
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shbhu.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallhandsbigheartsunited/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmallHandsBigHeartsUnited/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/shbhu1
