The Soderqvist siblings, Sebastian, 18 and Isabella, 11, were raised by their parents to have a strong sense of giving back to the community, and give back they have—especially since the Woolsey Fire.
Sebastian started volunteering almost as soon as he could walk, helping his parents feed the homeless. Over the years, both he and his sister have given away most of their Christmas gifts to the less fortunate. He managed to overcome severe ADD, and after recently graduating from high school, has been volunteering nearly full-time at two different clothing donation centers for Woolsey Fire victims in Malibu. Sebastian used his own savings to replace guitars, Xboxes and other items that local kids lost in the fire. He’s one of the volunteer “Daily Managers” at Izzy’s Donation Center and also volunteers for Malibu Strong.
Fifth-grader Isabella (“Izzy”) writes and performs songs and videos on issues she cares about, including one on GMO foods that went viral and another about keeping music and arts in the public schools. She even does a rap about the Woolsey Fire that she performed while selling hats to raise money for Malibu Strong. Izzy received an award from the Malibu Optimist Club and also won the Webster Spirit Award earlier this year. As a member of the student council, she started the “No child sits alone at lunch” program. She also befriends children coming to this country for surgeries performed by “Mending Kids International.” In addition, after being interviewed on several local newscasts after the fire, she came to the attention of Tinder (the dating app company), which then “adopted” four local fire families at Christmas. She also started a successful GoFundMe online fundraising site to replace laptops for child and teen fire victims.
