Moon Valley grad off to Yale after starting own non-profit

Madison O’Neal kept herself busy during high school. Often times it became hectic.

O’Neal played softball and badminton, was a member of the National Honor Society, Math Club, Spanish National Honor Society and the Junior ROTC. She managed a 4.0 GPA in the process.

But her most proud accomplishment came from a simple idea.

“During my freshman year in high school, I was like, ‘I like sports, other people like sports.’ We new it was always difficult to get a softball glove or cleats or whatever you needed to go play your sport, just because sporting gear is not cheap,” O’Neal said.

With that in mind, she started the non-profit Bringing Athletes Sports Equipment, better known as BASE to help kids acquire sports equipment they aren’t able to afford.

Getting BASE off the ground wasn’t easy.

O’Neal raised money to apply for non-profit status. She then got a big help from her principal, who gave her storage space at the school where should could collect and store sports equipment for the program. O’Neal created a website, then went through the process of filing for tax exemption status.

“We filed for the tax exemption, 30-some pages of paperwork, $500 and six months of waiting, and we qualified and we’re a tax-exempt non-profit organization,” she said.

With the money and the foundation set, O’Neal was able to buy new equipment to students in need or give them used, functional equipment. She estimates helping around 50 kids to this point, but now O’Neal faces another challenge: She wants to keep the non-profit going while she begins a new chapter in her life as a student at Yale.

“With me going to college on the other side of the country at Yale, we’re running into a ‘now what?'” she said.

Surely, she would like to find a solution.

In the meantime, O’Neal will begin her education at one of the nation’s most well-acclaimed universities. Learning about disabled veterans while part of the JROTC program in high school led her to chase a biomedical engineering major.

“I want to go into prosthetics so I can help research and design and innovate more with prosthetics,” O’Neal said. “I’ll probably end up in a research career.”

While O’Neal admits her major could always change, she does know that helping others is what she’ll ultimately pursue.

“I want to be super involved in community service,” she said. “There’s a whole big thing dedicated to community service at Yale and that really excites me.

“I want to do whatever I can,” she added. “I’m just really excited because there’s access to people, there’s access to funding, and there are people and faculty around willing to help you.”

The good news is that O’Neal probably won’t be overwhelmed as she takes on helping a new community — and a college course load of work.

“It was a struggle sometimes,” O’Neal said of her busy high school schedule. “I did a lot of stuff on my own time, where I’d be out late. Sometimes it was not exactly ideal situations that I’d get myself into, but I’d make it work.”

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