Lynbrook's Little St. Nick

Raymond Mohler is a teen from Lynbrook, NY, who founded the Little St. Nick Foundation on Long Island, which supports charity work with children's hospitals. He has been awarded the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.

When Raymond Mohler was 4 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare hip joint disease. Before the doctors were able to give him and his parents full details on his condition, Mohler was hospitalized for eight hours, during which, he says, he was filled with fear. After that day, he wanted to do something special for other children who have to stay in the hospital.

Born on Christmas Eve, “Little St. Nick” decided to donate the gifts from his 5th birthday to the young patients in Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park (now Cohen Children’s Medical Center).

“I found joy in making others smile,” Mohler says. “It makes me feel good inside.”

At 6 years old, Mohler asked his dad if he could donate half of his Christmas presents to children spending the holiday in the hospital. From there, he went door-to-door collecting money to buy more toys for sick kids.

Since then, Mohler has partnered with individual donors to grow his project and has developed fundraising dinners and an annual golf tournament. He has also organized visits by professional athletes to pediatric hospitals, uplifting the spirits of hundreds of patients, and grants wishes to sick children, including an $80,000 home extension for a severely disabled child.

Now 16, Mohler is one of 25 recipients of the 2014 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors young people who have planned and carried out a significant service project to help others and/or the environment. The annual price was founded in 2001 by best-selling children’s author T.A. Barron, in memory of his mother. Winners each receive $5,000 to be support their service work or higher education.

Mohler’s prize money will be donated to the Little St. Nick Foundation, which he founded to provide entertainment, education, and activities for hospitalized children. He provides local emergency rooms with a constant supply of stuffed animals and art supplies, and stocks hospital playrooms with books, art materials, and enough toys for each child to take a special one home when he or she leaves the hospital. He also creates teen lounges and mobile entertainment centers complete with iPads, computers, printers, TVs, and DVD players.

For more information on the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, including a complete list of this year’s winners and details on how to nominate a young hero in your community, visit barronprize.org.