Way to Go! Karyse Gocoul, Locust Valley

Karyse Gocoul, a sixth-grader at Portledge School in Locust Valley, has turned a hobby of making earrings into a way to assist kids impacted by last year's earthquake in Haiti and orphaned children in Uganda.

Gocoul said she came up with the idea after her grandmother returned from a mission trip to Uganda in 2008. So far, Gocoul has sold several hundred earrings at $5 apiece.

"She told us how it looks where they live and about the poverty in the country," Gocoul, 10, said of her grandmother's trip to Uganda. "Instead of making earrings for fun and giving them away as gifts, I decided to try to make money. I wanted to help the people out."

Gocoul said the earrings are made of hypoallergenic surgical steel with plastic backings and colored beads for decoration. She started making the jewelry on her 8th birthday when she and her friends did it as a party activity. She mostly relies on word-of-mouth for sales.

Last year, she sold her earrings between Sunday services at Bethlehem Assembly of God in Valley Stream with the permission of one of the pastors and helped the church raise more than $375 for children in Haiti.

Gocoul is also a member of Portledge School's Drama Club and Art Club and plays violin in the school orchestra.