Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, March 18, 2011 9:47 pm

The first thing I did on 9/11 was head down to my local Red Cross to join the giant blood donation line, something I had never done before. Unfortunately there were not enough survivors to need blood, especially mine that was located way far away in New Mexico. But of course no one knew that at the time. I felt shocked, confused, helpless. The only way to regain an illusion of control over life was to attempt to help in some way.

Children are prone to even more confusion and fear than adults when disasters strike somewhere on our planet. With very young children, avoiding any TV or radio news coverage in their presence is probably the best solution.

With older children, viewing news together (or, in the case of our family, listening together) and answering questions is a better technique. Children will hear talk at school that might be sensationalist, inaccurate, or incomplete. Even those who are home schooled and perhaps more sheltered from school-yard talk, need to learn eventually how to analyze news broadcasts and understand the world. This will be an important learning moment.

• Stick to facts. If there is something you don’t understand, research the answer together.
• Stress that sometimes media coverage can be exaggerated.
• Reassure them that such extreme events are rare and that they, and family members, are safe.
• Brainstorm together ways to help, even if only in a small way.

HELPING (my favorite topic!):

Of course this post is inspired by Japan. Here are some ways for you and your children to help there:

• Kids Helping Kids (EASY): Your child can write a “Hope Letter” to Japanese children from the hardest hit areas. You can email the letter and the Hope Letters people will translate it into Japanese and then deliver it somehow:

“Hope Letters will find ways to deliver the messages to local schools and school boards. The messages may be posted electronically if that is available, placed as a hardcopy journal or broadcasted via local news agencies. (Hope Letters is currently working to establish these distribution channels. If you have suggestions, please get in touch with Hope Letters at HopeLettersCanada “at” gmail “dot” com.)”

• Quick Fundraising Ideas (able to be organized within several weeks at most):

For schools - try bake sales, used book sales (like the one we did for Haiti), a penny war, yard sale, car wash, raffle off something cool (shh… for a good cause, people will buy tickets … even if your prize is really not that cool…), 50/50 fundraiser, guessing game.

For home - How about a lemonade stand, garage sale, birthday parties (donations in lieu of presents), street-side bake sale, car wash.

• Be sure to donate your money to an official disaster relief organization now working in Japan.

It has been exactly one week since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It has taken me one week to attempt to comprehend what has happened there. My thoughts are with Japan.

Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, February 2, 2010 11:51 am

$1,350.03

That’s how much a class of thirteen 6 to 9 year-olds raised for

Partners in Health’s Haiti relief fund

with a simple Book & Bake Sale!

If they can do it, you can do it too!

How they did it:

Two weeks ahead of time:

• They hung a sign on the school door asking for donations of books and baked goods for our Haiti fundraiser.
• They placed an empty box in the school entryway for collecting the books.
• They also put a sealed box in the lobby for any impromptu donations.

Day before, set-up:

• The day before the sale they accepted baked goods.
• After school they sorted the books into children and adult piles.
• They organized the children’s books into separate boxes and baskets based on level (picture books, readers, chapter books).
• Everything was set up on tables in our tiny school entryway with a simple pricing system posted.

The Sale:

• The morning of the sale, they set up the baked goods outside the door on a table (it was so cold and snowy that there was no danger of spoilage!).
• The school is on a side street, so they put out a sign on the main road nearby. They also put signs in the grocery store and the library. All signs said clearly that proceeds would be for Haiti.
• The sealed box went to a prominent location on the book table, with a basket nearby with a few small bills and coins for making change.
• They hung a Haitian flag and also posted some information about Partners in Health so any interested people could read more about where their money would be going.

Post-Sale:

• I helped them sort through the leftover books and we separated the ones that were fairly recent and looked pretty new.
• We took these “good” leftovers to our local bookstore so the owner could buy any that would work for her used book section. She ended up buying almost all of them, and even gave us more than her normal cash price since we were doing this for Haiti! (Be sure to let a bookstore know that you are selling for Haiti)
• The kids packed up the other books and we put them in storage for our annual school yard sale.

Counting:

• Practical math lesson: The children counted the cash and were SO excited, especially when they found a $100 bill in the box!
• Their teacher counted the checks for privacy reasons (NOTE: For ease of accounting, we made sure people made their checks out directly to Partners in Health and not to our school).
• I took the cash to the bank and traded it in for a cashiers check made out to Partners in Health.

And voilà! Not a whole lot of effort really, but now we have a nice donation to send off to Partners in Health and the kids feel GREAT!

Why not try it with your school?

For more fundraising ideas, please read Help Your Kids Help Haiti.

Comments (17)

By Mom Unplugged, January 15, 2010 5:12 pm

My children’s elementary class is organizing an emergency “Book and Bake Bonanza” to take place next week. They are frantically trying to collect books and baked goods to sell in order to raise money for Haiti. Obviously money is needed NOW, so they must act quickly and there is no time for an elaborate fundraiser.

Will used books sell? We don’t know, but we need to try something and one of the kids came up with the idea. Anything we can earn will help, no matter how small.

(UPDATE: The result of our little fundraiser? A whopping $1,350.03!! Read here for more details about how we did it.)

Why not organize a speedy fundraiser for your children’s school? If you homeschool, then combine a quick study of Haiti with a smaller scale family-style fundraiser.

Here are some quick and easy fundraising ideas:

• Bake sale
• Lemonade or hot chocolate or cookie stand in your driveway
• Garage Sale (if you can put it together fast, yard sales can be very time consuming)
• Used book sale
• Raffle something off
• Car wash (or an interior car detailing day if it is too cold for a car wash, or you don’t want to use water)
• A simple donation box in your school or workplace
• A penny drive in your children’s school (Thanks very much to Jen for this simple yet effective idea!)

And here are a few less obvious ones that could possibly be put together fairly rapidly:

• Board Game Competition: Charge an entry fee for each team or individual. If you want, give a small portion of this as a prize, or give a donated prize.
• Dog Wash (if you can do it indoors or you live somewhere warm).
• How Many in the Jar?: Fill a jar with M&Ms, marbles, rocks, anything small! Have people guess how many objects are in the jar. Sell guess forms for $1 or $2 a piece and split the earnings with the person who gets the closest.
• Show Up in Your Jammies Day: (For schools) Sell tickets entitling the purchaser to wear your pajamas to school for a day. Encourage teachers and administrators to join in also. Sell donuts and bagels before school for breakfast.
• Traveling Hobo Band: I can’t really explain this one, but it is pretty funny and spontaneous. Read more here.
• Windshield Washing

Who to give to?

The NPR website published a list of aid organizations that are helping Haiti during this disaster.

• Partners in Health (co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer) is one I only recently learned about via my friend Wishy. PIH has been extremely involved in Haitian health care and social justice for over 20 years.
• I have also always greatly admired the amazing Doctors Without Borders.
• Do your homework. You can always check out any charity before you donate on CharityNavigator.org and NetworkForGood.org.

Remember, even a small amount of money can make a big difference!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Don’t underestimate the power of even a simple bake sale. In December, my children’s Montessori School class raised over $870 for Heifer International with a one day bake sale!

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, March 15, 2008 5:19 pm

A Heifer International fund raising update:

My daughter’s Montessori class ( 1st-3rd grade) of 20 children raised a total of $1,067 to donate to Heifer International! Each child raised money their own way.

Last semester the class studied basic human needs, and this semester they are studying the continent of Africa. This fund raising project ties in with both those themes.

My daughter (and 5 year-old son) made and sold Christmas ornaments by the side of the road and contributed candy and junky “toys” to their Candy Bank to earn money for the project. In addition to each child’s individual earnings, the class also held a bake sale in the school parking lot (on a very snowy day!!).

I just wanted to post an update about this project since someone out there who knew my address, was so kind as to spread the word and organize contributions from all over the country. Truly amazing! Thank you again whoever you are!

The class earned nearly double their original goal and instead of buying an animal or two for one family, they are able to fund a project that will help an entire African village.

Your generosity, and that of our local community, makes a HUGE difference. Not only to a village in Africa, but to my daughter and her classmates who now know how good it feels to give and to help others. Thank you!

Photo (Zambia) courtesy of Heifer International.

Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, December 19, 2007 9:18 pm

Several weeks ago for an Unplugged Project, we made Christmas ornaments that my 7 year-old daughter intended to sell as part of a class project to raise money for Heifer International. Her plan was to set up an “Ornament Stand” by the side of the road (instead of the classic lemonade stand) and sell her ornaments to make money to contribute to the class Heifer fund.

Well…I give her an A++ for vision and determination because she (and 5 year-old little brother) did it! It was very cold that day, but they sat out there after school for about two and a half hours. I did not interfere, but did hang around outside pretending to garden (in December???) and FROZE TO DEATH while protecting from kidnapping perverts and making sure the baby didn’t run into the road.

They set up two kid tables from the playroom and hung some self-made signs on them. They arranged all the ornaments on trays and even brought out a Heifer catalog that had come in the mail (in case people had questions). Honestly, it was cute beyond words!

We live on a quiet street, especially in the winter since this is mainly a summer community, so only two cars went by in all that time (and tragically didn’t stop). But the neighbor came over, the contractor working on the house next door stopped by, and many of my friends (in fact pretty much ALL my friends, as well as my sister) “just happened” to drive by and stop!

The plan was to try again on a weekend morning since we would probably get a bit more drive-by traffic (and it might be warmer?), but so far the weekends have been snowy and ill-suited to Ornament Stands.

But my daughter is thrilled, because so far she has made $56 all by herself. Today in the car on the way home from school she told me that she wants to “devote her life to helping the poor.” I am NOT making this up!

For the first time ever, I am wildly hoping that this is not “just a phase!” As you moms know, most “phases” are pretty dreadful.