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When I was a kid, Lucy the Elephant, was in a state of disrepair. A community group worked hard to get her placed on the historic register and raise money to bring her back to her turn of the century glory. My third grade teacher, Josephine Harron or "Cupcake" as she was known raised money via bake sales at the school. I baked a lot of cupcakes with my mom to contribute to those bake sales.
In our family, I have involved my kids in my fundraising activities whether I'm raising money for Cambodia or Creative Commons. It doesn't involve baking cupcakes. We have dinner table discussions on why it is important to support causes, particularly programs in Cambodia like the Sharing Foundation. My kids have posed for photos in t-shirts, emptied their piggy banks, helped me make fundraising videos, contributed clothing or other items to drives at school, and have attended lots of fund raising events.
I also want to them to discover and follow their own sense of social activism and philanthropy. Last winter, after Harry and I had a conversation about global warming (and quite a conversation it was for a then eight-year old), we collaborated on a series of green videos. As Ryanne Hodson points out, making media together helps kids learn about the issue as well as the technology.
My kids have become more and more interested in playing video games. And like Suzanne Seggerman who plays video games with her daughter, I will play video games with my son and daughter. And while video games like Zoo Tycoon or online games can teach them all sorts of skills that will need to be successful adults (and this has been validated recently by a MacArthur Foundation funded study, I was excited to discover this wonderful list of games for change.
This new genre of video games are about solving real world problems such as environment, global hunger, poverty and disease. What a great way to teach your children to become more thoughtful and responsible about the world we live in.
Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth Blog shared a story of how she and her daughter played the Freerice game, a new, quiz-style vocabulary builder that rewards correct answers with ten grains per bowl to feed hungry children, distributed by the U.N.’s World Food Programme. Not only was her daughter able to contribute to a good cause by playing a game, the experience also brought up a ethical dilemma.
I reached out to the readers on my blog for suggestions about how to raise more charitable and socially aware children. Here's some inspiring stories, tips and resources:
Some Inspirational Stories
Last week I wrote about the Columbus Foundation's recently launhced Match Day 2.0, a giving stimulus plan created to matching gifts to PowerPhilanthropy organizations and raise $1 million in 48 hours to support local needs in their community. They beat their own record, according to Lucy Bernholz, on November 18 they used up their entire match fund in 34 minutes, processed 650 gifts in the first 17 minutes alone and 1,000 gifts in 40 minutes.
One of their donors was a class of kindergarteners at the Berwick Alternative Elementary School. The class of 27 students have been collecting pennies and donated $100 to Ohio Nature Education, a nonprofit offering environmental education programs, and secured $150 for the organization.
Angela Stockman, an educator and blogger in upstate New York, told me about how Sarah Hanson from Alden High School and Stacy VanEtten's seventh grade class are participating in the Working Together 2 Make A Difference project. Says Angela, "Stacy is a self-proclaimed techno-phobe, but has waded into blogging with her students, who are very excited about their project." The Charity for Change project is another example where charitable giving is embedded in the curriculum.
Ed Nicholson from Tyson Foods pointed to two excellent examples of young girl who raised money for hunger relief by asking her friends to donate money to host a mobile food pantry. Here's another story, about teenage boy who started with a small project to raised money for the local food pantry his first year and then rallied his community to raise $20,000 for
