Please buy, Madame, child vendor selling clay whistles in Hoi An, Vietnam, December 2008, photo © 2008-2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
My oldest daughter, Dee, made 48 brownies this morning for a bake sale today. She and two other seventh-graders are doing a “pay it forward” class assignment, whereby they identify a worthy need and then do good works to support the cause.
Dee and her classmates decided to raise money for a global non-profit called Invisible Children. The group was created in the spring of 2003 when…
…three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims.
After returning to the States, they created the documentary “Invisible Children: Rough Cut,” a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers. The film was originally shown to friends and family, but has now been seen by millions of people.
The overwhelming response has been, “How can I help?” To answer this question, the non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.
Invisible Children has a singular mission: To use the power of stories to change lives around the world. There are many organizations that help children, some decades old, and I can only imagine it was tough for Dee and her two friends to choose a recipient for their project. Ths group appealed to them because of the medium (film), the young vibe to the organization, and its focus on schools and books for kids (many of whom been forced to grow up and participate in a tragic war) in Uganda.
There is so much poverty in this world. I have seen children in Delhi and Agra, India, little blind beggars and dirty-faced kids performing acrobatics down crowded walkways of trains—scenes and situations brought to light in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Vietnam, South Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and communities in my very own New Mexico—these are some of the places where I’ve seen children living without the most basic of needs met.
It’s easy—perhaps even at times a necessary coping mechanism—to become inured to the realities of the world, especially when we don’t see with our own eyes the suffering and pain. But it’s all around us.
Dee and her classmates also chose as recipient for their works a no-kill animal shelter whose primary focus is to rescue dogs and cats on “death row” (those about to be euthanized by animal control centers in the state). One of the girls working with Dee on this project volunteers at this shelter, which is supported entirely by donations from the community and adoption fees.
These are tough realities for these girls to be aware of, yet they’re learning that through their efforts, no matter how small or big, they can make a difference.
It begins with doing a favor for another person– without any expectation of being paid back.
This is their second bake sale this month. Their goal is to raise $150 per organization. Their first bake sale they earned $80, and within just minutes of setting up for their sale today, they’re earned about $15. They’ll probably have one or two more sales before the project is due. I hope they surpass their goal.
yb, this is a wonderful post! I think it is great that Dee’s class was given this assignment. It is a tough reality for children, but what a good way to get them involved in helping these types of causes. I have found myself having to explain things to Brant that are tough for me, but it is amazing what children understand, when it is explained in terms they understand.
J & I recently took him to see Marley and Me. He knew about having to put an animal down, but it was overwhelming none the less.
The bake sale goodies look yummy! I wish the girls luck! They chose two very worthy causes!
I am a sucker for people I see begging. I see others walk past them ignoring their plea for money, but I cannot do that. Also, in the past I have been involved in buying a Christmas gift for a child at a local home for unwanted children. It makes the heart feel good. Another thing is giving used clothing to houses that shelter battered woman & children. They usually leave their homes with little or nothing.
Love the photo of the clay whistles. Did you buy any? D
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ybonesy, this is an inspiring post. Kudos to your daughter and her friends who are taking the high road. It’s great that you mentioned the medium of filmmaking as a way to bring such injustices to light. It makes me want to see the documentary you mention Invisible Children: Rough Cut about northern Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers.
We watch a lot of documentary films and they are wonderful for exposing things going on all over the world, including our own country, that I would not normally be aware of except in maybe a 10 second sound bite on the nightly News.
When I watch a documentary, I learn so much more about a subject, the roots, branches, and trunk and can better make decisions about what causes I want to support, and which I have to let go of.
The no-kill animal shelter is a great cause, too, and Liz often supports organizations that herald more humane treatment for animals. It doesn’t sound like Dee is going to have any problems meeting her goals. Those cupcakes look so good!
Did you see the movie, Pay It Forward? I think it came out in 2000 and was based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I liked the movie, haven’t read the book. But I did see that there were excerpts of the book on the Pay It Forward Foundation link you provided in your post.
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The cupcakes were delicious. All but a few sold.
I don’t think I saw the movie Pay it Forward. Nor have I read the book. But it’s a great concept, and it’s amazing how much more explicit schools are these days with concepts such as community service and philanthropy.
When I was in school (and probably moreso in Cathecism) there was emphasis on The Golden Rule—Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you—but I don’t really remember anything about community service. I’m trying to think if we ever went to a nursing home or an animal shelter. I don’t think so. Not until maybe high school, and only with certain electives.
diddy, thanks. No, I didn’t buy whistles. The girl was so cute and so persistent. She followed me for a long time. Hoi An had so many vendors, I guess because it’s such a tourist destination. That was very different than the other cities in Vietnam that I visited.
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Pay It Forward is a pretty good coming of age movie. It has kind of a bittersweet ending. I think it’s geared for kids who are a little older, teens maybe. The main character doesn’t fit in. It’s about his struggle around that, and the way he finally looked outside himself, to being of service to others.
Your question about community service, you know, when I was in grade school, I remember mostly what we would do when I was a part of the Girl Scouts, the way some functions were geared to giving back and helping others. I also remember the United Way sticker on the window of our front door, the holding, giving hands. I think my parents gave to the United Way. There were some church functions that were geared toward giving, but I mostly remember those around the Holidays or in terms of tithing money to the church.
I think the world has shrunk with telecommunications these days and kids seem to be much more aware of the world at large than I ever was growing up. Everything on a map in those days seemed very far away geographically. Now things seem really close — only a click. Maybe the amount of information that kids have available and their ability to communicate with kids on the other side of the world changes everything. Good questions.
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yb, one more thing I wanted to mention was that when I was still working in the transportation industry, we would often have OS&D. What that is is Overages, Shortages, & Damaged goods. Sometimes, it was as simple as the shipper sending the wrong product or product codes to receivers that were nearing expiration date. When such goods were rejected the OS&D dept. ,at corporate, would contact the shipper & have them instruct us as to what to do with the items. Most often the answer we would get would be to donate them, but send a signed receipt of the donation. That’s where part of my job came in. My usual donations were to a local Children’s Home, The Food Bank, Shelters, & Nursing Homes. They were always glad to receive these goods. What a great feeling to make those calls, although, it was solely up to the shipper for us to donate. Big names, like Pillsbury & Kraft, to name a few. D
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QM, yeah, Girl Scouts were or could be community oriented, although the only things I remember ffrom then were getting banished from the group because of sleepover camp shenanigans. 8)
There was also UNICEF—trick or treat for UNICEF. A Canadian friend of mine said it was huge in her country when she was young.
My parents were big into Maryknoll and tithing at church, and I used to love dropping the envelope into the tithing basket at church. 8)
I do think the world is smaller on account of telecommunications and other media. Really good point.
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diddy, that’s so good to know (about OS&D). I bet a lot gets damaged. I have heard that health regulations might prevent restaurants from donating prepared foods, which if that’s the case, it must result in lots of waste. I guess with boxed dry goods, that’s not a problem. Thanks goodness.
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yb, the OS&D was mostly chilled or frozen products & some dry goods, like cereal etc.. The nursing homes we donated to were mostly privately owned. Some places were unable, due to strict laws, to accept donations, though our trailer were capable of keeping whatever at the proper temp.. D
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Quick update here…this past weekend was a baking weekend. We went through six boxes of cake mix, made over 100 cupcakes (one batch was concave, so we had to eat those ones—poor us), and the best part of it was, I mostly watched. (OK, I also made sure nothing burned, except for one batch of chocolate chip cookies that I put into the oven too early on Sunday morning and then forgot all about until I kept smelling the odor of burning chocolate.)
The kiddos have just about made their goal. I think they have a few donations still coming in, but I don’t foresee any problem in them hitting the goal by this Fri, when their project is due.
They sold this latest batch in front of a local supermarket, and for whatever reason that day, folks just weren’t really buying. After three hours, less than half the cupcakes were gone. The girls started to get demoralized when a woman, I call her their angel, came over and said that she’d adopted a cat from the no-kill animal shelter, one of the beneficiaries of the project.
The woman saw the girls were losing steam, so she asked how much it would cost to buy all the rest of the cupcakes off of them—about 58 cupcakes total. She paid for them and said she’d take them back to her work—Lowe’s—and set them in the break room. Can you believe it?!
She paid it forward.
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