Caine’s Arcade One Year Later: How one boy has inspired kids around the world

One year ago, a filmmaker in Los Angeles stumbled across Smart Parts Aftermarket to buy a new door handle for his car. Little did he know he would get much more than a door handle. What he found would change his life and the life of a 9-year-old boy forever and inspire a young generation toward creativity and entrepreneurship.

Caine and Nirvan at Caine’s Arcade. Photo from www.facebook.com/CainesArcade

When Nirvan Mullick stepped inside the auto parts shop, he met Caine Monroy–a bored little boy who was spending his summer vacation playing in the front of his dad’s East Los Angeles car parts store. In the front of that store, 9-year-old Caine had built a small arcade entirely from cardboard. Unable to resist Caine’s imagination and ingenuity, Nirvan bought a “Fun Pass” to Caine’s Arcade.

What he may not have known then was that his $2 investment in a Fun Pass would result in a short film that hit millions of views on YouTube in a matter of hours, hours-long lines of customers waiting to play Caine’s Arcade each weekend, a college scholarship fund for Caine and a foundation to inspire kids around the world.

Click here to read our original story about Caine’s Arcade and to view the short film.

The last year has been a whirlwind for Caine, his dad, George, and Nirvan. Out of that short film, the Imagination Foundation was born. The foundation was “established to find, foster and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.” The foundation, inspired by the creativity of one little boy, celebrates the imaginations of kids everywhere, and is working to develop programs to “help kids to develop creative thinking skills, give them opportunities to create, introduce social-entrepreneurship at a young age and foster the creativity of future generations.”

Visit www.imagination.is to sign up to host an event, to find an event near you or to donate to the Cardboard Challenge.

To help the Imagination Foundation in this endeavor, the Goldhirsh Foundation has pledged to match donations to the Imagination Foundation dollar-for-dollar, up to $250,000.

This month the Imagination Foundation launched the Global Cardboard Challenge, inviting kids and kids-at-heart around the world to build, create and play, celebrating the imaginations of kids everywhere. September is the month to build and plan your day of cardboard play. October 6, 2012 is the Global Cardboard Challenge day to play.

Learn more in Caine’s Arcade 2: The Global Cardboard Challenge

To donate to Caine’s Scholarship Fun and help provide seed funding for the Imagination Foundation, click here.

To donate directly to the Imagination Foundation through the organization’s fiscal partner, the Creative Visions Foundation, click here.

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Like Caine’s Arcade on Facebook

Follow @imagination on Twitter
Like the Imagination Foundation on Facebook