Natasha Wright has lived in Indian Peaks for 13 years, and in that time, she's built something remarkable: Chai for Charity, a 501(c)3 that's making giving accessible to everyone, regardless of age or income. We sat down with her to learn more about her mission and how our community can get involved.

I was born in Pakistan and raised in a low-income immigrant family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our family felt excluded from the traditional giving process because we had neither time nor money to give. I founded Chai for Charity because I believe that giving is social, habit-forming, meaningful at every age, and that it takes just a bit of creativity to make it universally inclusive.

The name is connected to my heritage—"chai" is the word for tea in Urdu. But it's more than just a translation. Chai symbolizes the act of being in community. It's comforting, it's warm, it's welcoming, it's inclusive. It demands you to slow down and live with intention. That's exactly what we want giving to feel like.

Our mission is to activate giving at every age, income level, and season of life. I believe people give differently during different seasons of life. Twenty-year-old me had time but no money. Thirty-year-old me had money but no time. Forty-year-old me is eager to inspire my children to form lifelong giving habits. We meet people wherever they are.

We offer four programs. First, chai@school brings afterschool service clubs and school-wide days of service to elementary students, and service summer camps for middle & high school students. We offer age-appropriate activities like beautifying the neighborhood,crafting toys for shelter animals or serving meals to neighbors in need. We want to inspire giving early in life.

Second, chai@home invites neighbors to meet at the Lafayette Library each quarter to assemble 2,000 kits together. They range from hygiene kits for the homeless, snack bags for kids on reduced lunch, menstrual kits for those experiencing period poverty, and early math and literacy kits for preschoolers.

Third, chai@work brings giving activities to workplaces for team-building through service. And finally, "silver" chai creates intergenerational connections by having kids lead mini service activities at local senior living homes.

We're proudly 100% volunteer-run, and each dollar, kit, and hour directly activates giving while investing in local nonprofit efforts here in Boulder County. In 2025, donors aged 2 to 92 assembled over 8,000 kits for our neighbors, working with Community Food Share, Sister Carmen, Period Kits, Meals on Wheels, Luvin Arms, Garden to Table, the Humane Society, and many others. We engaged over 500 elementary-aged kids in school-sponsored community service, and offered three weeks of onsite support through our teen summer service camp.

That's a perfect example of adapting to signals. My pre-teen was aging out of summer camps but couldn't yet hold a summer job. Facing down a summer glued to screens, we decided to pilot a teen summer service camp. A group of teens offered onsite support to five local nonprofits each day of the week, then invested $25 of their own money in one of the nonprofits we met. The signals were strong, and we're tripling capacity in 2026.

For years, we drove Chai to be more, do more, expand more. More people, locations, nonprofit partners, sponsors, types of kits, programs. The decision to focus on a couple programs and pivot when the signals change took effort and intention, and still does. We audit what worked and what didn't each year, keep some things, drop others, evolve, and then design one new program to pilot based on relevant signals.

Another ongoing challenge is funding. Prioritizing fundraising has allowed us to keep most Chai programs free to the community, but it's an ongoing effort.

Did you know that children who volunteer are 34% more likely to be in good health, 66% more likely to flourish, have fewer behavioral problems, and demonstrate lower anxiety as adolescents? Volunteering builds resilience, empathy, and a sense of purpose. But beyond the research, I've seen it firsthand. When we make giving accessible and social, people of all ages show up. And they keep coming back.

Our neighbors! Thank you to everyone who has invested their time, talent, money and energy in Chai for Charity's efforts over the years. You know who you are! 

We invite you to join us in four ways: Invite us to your school to organize chai@school community service clubs and days of service. Join us at the Lafayette Library each quarter for chai@home kit assembly events (join our mailing list to be notified of dates). Invite us to organize a chai@work giving activity at your workplace. Or connect us with a local senior living home that might value "silver" chai mini service activities.