In 2025, Connecticut student Vihaan Kamath started selling homemade cookies for charity; by August 2026, his nonprofit had raised $66,331 and helped nearly 1,000 children

A Connecticut teenager has turned his love of baking into a growing nonprofit that has raised more than $66,000 to support children in need.Vihaan Kamath, 16, a Greenwich-area high school student preparing to enter his senior year, founded Cookie for a Cause in April 2025. The nonprofit sells homemade cookies and directs its proceeds toward children’s charities, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.What began as a small fundraising idea has since grown into an initiative that has helped nearly 1,000 children with medical care, school supplies and everyday necessities.Teen’s cookie fundraiser grows into $66,000 nonprofitAccording to St. Jude, Kamath initially began raising money through cookie sales after returning from a summer trip to India, where he had spent time with his grandmother, whom he calls “anama.”During visits to Mumbai, Kamath accompanied his grandmother as she carried out charitable work in schools and hospitals. He remembers helping distribute notebooks and pencils to children and visiting the pediatric cancer ward at Tata Memorial Hospital, where he saw families who had travelled long distances seeking lifesaving treatment for their children.“That stuck with me through the years,” Kamath said.Those experiences eventually inspired him to find a way to support children in need in both India and the United States.From home kitchen to nonprofitBecause Kamath already enjoyed baking with his mother and grandmother, he decided cookies could become the foundation of his fundraising efforts.Chocolate chip and sugar cookies became his specialties. He initially approached local businesses and corporations, offering his baked goods in exchange for donations to children's causes.“I just kept reaching out to more people and local businesses and partnered with a few different people,” he said. “People really seemed to have an interest in it.”His parents, Ravish and Vijaya Kamath, helped by providing ingredients including flour, sugar, eggs and chocolate chips.“It is their way of contributing to my cause,” Vihaan said.In April 2025, he formally established Cookie for a Cause as a nonprofit, with proceeds going to charity. He created a website where customers could place orders and continued baking most of the cookies in his home kitchen.For larger orders, he has occasionally used a local pastry shop, whose owner and employees have supported his efforts and offered advice on improving his recipes.$20,000 raised in the first yearThe fundraiser quickly exceeded Kamath’s expectations.Between April and December 2025, Cookie for a Cause raised approximately $20,000.“From April 2025 to December 2025, we raised $20,000, which is phenomenal. I didn't even think we were going to get that far,” Kamath said.The nonprofit has since continued to grow. Kamath has now raised $66,331 and has set an ambitious target of $100,000 by the end of 2026.His father initially thought the project might eventually fade as his son balanced schoolwork and sports, but he soon realized that Kamath was committed to making it a long-term effort.“I didn’t know how far he would go with this,” Ravish Kamath said. “It was surprising, but he started to get on social media channels for this and then started to reach out to local businesses. It is now something considerable that he has done.”St. Jude becomes a key part of his missionKamath eventually expanded his fundraising to support children in the United States and connected with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.“I found St. Jude to be one of the best places to partner with and help out,” he said.He was later accepted into the St. Jude Leadership Society, a program that gives high school students an opportunity to develop leadership skills while raising funds and awareness for children treated by St. Jude.His connection with St. Jude also has roots in his experiences in India. Tata Memorial Hospital is part of the St. Jude Global Alliance, which brings together institutions around the world to improve care for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.Teen plans to keep nonprofit going after collegeKamath has no plans to stop baking once he graduates from high school.He wants to study business in college and has already begun building a student team that can continue Cookie for a Cause after he leaves for university.“I created a student board with sophomores and freshmen from my school who will continue this after I move,” he said. “I’ll continue it when I go to college.”His goal is to create an organization that can continue growing even when he is no longer running its day-to-day operations.“I don’t want to stop,” Kamath said, adding that he hopes younger students can eventually take over different aspects of the nonprofit “so that this keeps growing.”Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.