When 15-year-old Sophie Weenink was out swimming at a beach in Nelson a few summers ago she saw a chip packet in the water.
She didn’t ignore it, in fact, that piece of rubbish helped inspire her... to inspire others.
At 13, the teenager organised her first clean up at Tahunanui Beach by posting online with 200 people showing up to give her a hand.
“I was pretty inspired to do more,” she told 1 NEWS.
She soon moved on to river clean-ups, which was where she made a discovery.
“I stumbled upon a sleeping bag… it was not people coming from the nightclubs. It was in fact homeless which really broke my heart.”
On her 15th birthday, Sophie launched a Give-a-Little page that raised $2000 for the homeless.
“I guess I’ve been raised to be part of the conversation. Whereas a lot of parents exclude children from conversations on big topics like climate change,” she said.
And Sophie’s not waiting on politicians to save the world either, taking it upon herself to make a difference.
Watch the full video above to find out more.
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