Indiana Flood Relief Emoji Campaign

Donate to our Flood Relief Support Campaign Digitally:

100% of proceeds of Helping Ninjas Emojis app now through October 1, 2026 will be donated to help the following Indiana Flood Victims Relief Organizations:

Learn more…

Supporting Local Teachers & Families

Help us help local students and educators get the tools they need to succeed! 

All school supplies and monetary donations will go directly to Teachers’ Treasures and Merciful Help Center, both organizations that obtains and distributes school supplies to teachers of students in need.

🎒📒 Community School Drive Items Needed✏️🍎

🌟 High-Priority Items (Most Needed)

Backpacks (New or gently used)

Spiral Notebooks & Composition Books

Pocket Folders (Plastic or heavy paper)

Wooden Pencils & Mechanical Pencils

Crayons & Colored Pencils

Washable Markers & Dry-Erase Markers

Glue Sticks

Disinfecting Wipes & Tissues

Classroom Tools: Glue sticks, student scissors, rulers, & dry-erase markers (low odor).

Pencils & Pens: #2 pencils, mechanical pencils, black/blue ink pens, & highlighters.

Coloring Supplies: 24-ct crayon boxes, colored pencils, & washable markers 

Desk Organization: Sticky notes & pencil pouches.

Backpacks: Sturdy backpacks for all grade levels (17–18” sizes preferred).

Notebooks & Binders: Spiral notebooks, composition books, 3-ring binders, tab dividers

Paper Products: Copy paper reams, loose-leaf filler paper, & index cards.

Hygiene & Cleaning: Disinfecting surface wipes & facial tissues.

About Our Beneficiaries

All donations collected will be shared between two incredible local organizations:  

Merciful HELP Center: Serves families in Hamilton County by providing critical assistance like food, clothing, and helping to ensure local children in need receive a filled backpack, shoes, socks, and personal care items to confidently succeed during the school year.

Teachers’ Treasures: Obtains and distributes school supplies directly to teachers of students in need across Marion County. They operate a free “teacher store” where educators can shop for supplies to alleviate their out-of-pocket classroom expenses.

Helping Ninjas, Inc., a youth-led-not for profit oganization, that supports global, national, community philanthropical, charitable, and environmental causes and encourages youth to be highly skilled at helping.

From Coffee to Chapters: How We Are Helping Indy Kids Turn the Page

Next time you grab your morning brew at Rivet Coffee Bar in Westfield, you can do a lot more than just fuel your day. You can pass the joy of reading along to a child who needs it most.

Helping Ninjas is running a community book drive from now until October 1st to collect books for a fantastic local non-profit: the Indy Book Project.

Indy Book Project has successfully put over 406,000 books directly into the hands of local kids! We want to help them reach their next big milestone.

The Indy Book Project is a grassroots literary non-profit based right here in Central Indiana. Their core conviction is simple: all children deserve to have books in their homes. While libraries are wonderful, book ownership is a key factor in a child’s long-term educational success. 

Unfortunately, many families face “book deserts”—neighborhoods where studies show there can be fewer than one book available for every 300 children.

Indy Book Project even hosts book give-a-ways at public community events, like local farmers markets and parks, giving children the rare opportunity to browse the shelves and pick out a book of their choice entirely for free.

To fix this, the Indy Book Project acts as a local resource hub, and do the following:

Community Collection: They gather new and gently used books donated by neighbors like you.

Volunteers at Work: Dedicated local volunteers manually sort, age-categorize, and clean every piece.

Targeted Distribution: They box up the books and give them directly to local teachers, schools, community centers, food pantries, and youth-serving organizations.

Helping Ninjas will have a bin at Rivet Coffee who is hosting a bin, so you can easily stop by and drop off your donations.

📍Where & When to Donate

We have placed a white collection bin directly inside Rivet Coffee Bar & Roastery in Westfield.

Feel free to bring your donations and drop them in during normal operating hours:

• Location: Rivet Coffee Bar (Westfield, IN)
• Hours: Monday–Saturday: 7 AM – 3 PM | Sunday: 8 AM – 3 PM
• Timeline: From now through Monday, August 31st

📚 Donation Guidelines: What to Bring

Accepted Items

• Ages 0–18: Reading material specific to babies, toddlers, children, and teenagers.
• Bilingual/Spanish: Books written entirely in Spanish or side-by-side bilingual editions.
• High Priority Needs: Toddler board books, colorful picture books, graphic novels, and popular manga series.
• Condition: Brand new or gently loved books that are clean and in good shape.

❌ Items Except (Do Not Bring)

• Academic/Reference: Old textbooks, encyclopedias, or study reference guides.
• Activity Materials: Used or new coloring books, sticker pads, or puzzle workbooks.
• Holiday/Religious: Books focused heavily on specific holiday celebrations or strong religious themes.
• Poor Condition: Anything with heavy wear, torn pages, water damage, stains, or markings.
• Adult Materials: Adult fiction, thrillers, non-fiction biographies, or general adult literature.

📍 How to Donate Online

🤳 Spread the Word!

If your home bookshelves are already empty, you can still be a huge part of this drive:

• Post a Photo: Next time you grab a drink at Rivet Coffee, snap a quick photo of the white donation bin and share it to your social media stories! Tag @indybookproject and @rivetcoffee to point your friends in the right direction.

• Scan to Learn: Look for the QR code. You can scan it with your smartphone camera to read more about their community impact stories or to review their volunteer guidelines online.

Indy Book Project

🤝 Hands-On Volunteering: Help Us Sort!

Donating books is just the first step! Once the collection bins are full, the Indy Book Project relies heavily on community members to help review, clean, and organize the donations into age groups so they can be delivered to families quickly.

If you want to roll up your sleeves and get involved with the hands-on process, your time would make a massive difference.

👉 Sign up here if you want to help with books sorting!

What is the Indy Book Project? If you aren’t familiar with their work and why their mission matters so much, and exactly how you can get involved: Indy Book Project

https://www.indybookproject.org

Historic flooding and severe storms across central and northern Indiana have displaced thousands of residents, washed out roads, and caused major power outages.  Fortunately, victims and families of Indiana Floods have support through various organizations.

On Saturday, our founder of Helping Ninjas, Leo Berry, volunteered helping get necessary supplies into the hands of those in need in local Hamilton County Indiana.

Leo helped sort donations and load the trucks that then was driven to affected areas, and given out to families in neighborhoods.

Leo says he hopes though our work with Helping Ninjas, it inspires someone else to step up and help their community.

“You don’t need to wait for a special occasion—you just have to be willing to show up for the people who need it most.” —Leo Berry Helping Ninja Founder & President 

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Rebuilding Indiana Flood Victims

How Can You Help?

Monetary Donation

Support Helping Ninjas efforts to raise funds for fellow neighbors and families affected by the floods in Indiana. For only 99 cents you can help! Learn more here:

Families of Indiana Floods Need Our Help

Donate Items

Did You Know?

2026 Indiana Flood Key Details

• When & What: Heavy, relentless rainfall beginning August 11, 2026, pushed rivers like the White River to record crests (over 24 feet in central areas). [1, 2]
• State Response: Governor Mike Braun issued a statewide disaster emergency, deploying state agencies and activating emergency relief funds. [1, 2, 3]
• Impact: Severe flash floods, wind damage, and infrastructure failures affected dozens of counties, including Marion, Hamilton, Delaware, and Lake counties. [1, 2
• Record Water Levels: The White River reached an all-time record crest of nearly 25 feet in central Indiana, surpassing levels not seen since 1913. Anderson saw levels rise to 24.9 feet, and Noblesville experienced its worst flooding in over 100 years. [1, 2, 3]
• Impact and Damage: Floodwaters washed out roads and bridges, partially submerged homes and vehicles, and caused power outages for over 230,000 customers at peak times. [1, 2, 3]
• Casualties: At least seven storm-related deaths were reported across the state, including a 4-year-old boy and a driver swept off a flooded roadway. [1, 2]
• Government Response: Indiana Governor Mike Braun declared a state of emergency, and President Donald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration to deliver rapid assistance. [1, 2, 3]
• Current Status: Floodwaters began receding, allowing local public works crews to clear debris, inspect levees, and transition the region into recovery mode. [1, 2]

Links to other organizations that are also helping:

Local Organizations Who are Helping: Click here to read more.

Helping Ninjas Leo and Orcho volunteered at Merciful Help Center in Carmel, Indiana.

Today while volunteering, Leo & Orcho helped to stock and organize donated, non-perishable items, that community members have dropped off to donate like baby food Items such as baby diapers, hygiene, products, baby food, etc.

Each of the baby food items has to be individually labeled with expiration date. They also were able to have the opportunity to take a tour of the facility.

Each day at the Merciful Help Center items are donated by community members and businesses, such as strawberries from local grocers, these strawberries. The boys had to go through each package and pull out any that were molded or decomposing, and then repackage the good ones so families can take them home. Each week, families, low income families, come to Merciful Help Center and are able to grocery shop. So, the strawberries will go to someone’s home and help defeat a family and need.

While we were there, we saw a local community member come in and donate their cucumbers from the garden, which gave us the idea that we will donate vegetables from our garden as well.

Helping ninjas also rescued the strawberry waste, and brought them home to compost in Leo’s home compost bin. We also planted strawberry tops in Leo’s garden in which he will grow and then next year donate to mercy health center.

Leo says, “Volunteering is something simple you can do, and by doing small acts, you can help to change the world.”

If you’re interested in joining Helping Ninjas contact us by email.

Not local, that’s OK. We can help connect you to a local Charity near you and get you started volunteering today! If you’re interested, contact us by email.

Are you already volunteering, we can’t wait to hear! Email us your photos and info and we will share! If you’re interested, contact us by email: info@helpingninjas.com.