Samsung and Casey Neistat, creator and entrepreneur, partnered this holiday season to make dreams come true for 100 lucky members of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Neistat and a group of 17 fellow creators lit up the holidays and transformed the atrium of the shuttered Northridge Mall into a winter wonderland surprise for the young Milwaukee filmmakers in training.

The goal was to have the kids help make a holiday video. So, Neistat and friends crafted the ultimate wintery set design inspired by the classic bjook turned film, “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” – think life-size gingerbread houses and sledding down escalators – and made the perfect backdrop for developing the kids’ own content creation skills.

The group received cases filled with Samsung creator technology and tools for content creation, including the Galaxy Note8 and more to capture the winter wonderland experience for Neistat’s 2017 holiday video. The entire winter wonderland experience captured by the kids and fellow creators was first released on Neistat’s YouTube channel December 18 and has garnered 1.3 million views in 24 hours.



Neistat and his fellow creators delivered the early holiday gifts, and the kids’ surprise, appreciation and gratitude really registered with the team.

“I was actually one of those kids that went to the Boys and Girls Club when I was like eight-nine, and I remember at Christmas we didn’t have anything,” said Akilah Hughes, comedian and creator. “I feel like these kids really appreciate it more than anyone, like they really are going to be able to change the world with this kind of stuff.”

Neistat and Samsung provided the ultimate creator experience for these underserved kids, according to local Boys and Girls Club instructors Vedale Hill and James Gavins, who said many of their young members must deal with poverty and street violence.

“Things like this aren’t allotted to the youth that we work with every day. They’re not used to a lot of influence and a lot of opportunity,” said Hill.

Samsung has been a longtime partner of the Boys and Girls Club of America. The company’s charitable platform, Samsung Gives, focuses on helping youth in underserved communities across the U.S. gain access to quality healthcare, technology resources and STEM education.