Every so often, we will turn to you — our readers — to ask an important question.  Today, we would like to find out if you know someone we should feature in The Giving Experience?  Tell us about a kid who is helping out his or her community, neighbor, friend, sibling, or charity!  Applaud an educator who is showing kids the value of community service activities?   Put a spotlight on a parent or community leader who has fun, inspirational ideas that movitate kids to volunteeer?  Let us know!  Big or small — we’d like to celebrate someone you think highly of in a future post!  Share your ideas by sending us a comment or emailing us at info@yeskidzcan.com.  Anyone who sends in a solid story idea will receive one of our Community Service Project Kits for free!  We look forward to hearing from you!

Kids learn differently about charitable giving.  While some may gravitate toward community service projects, others may prefer reading a book.  One book that beautifully brings home the message of charitable giving is The Quiltmakers Gift.

In this wonderful fable, a rich but unhappy king insists that a gifted seamstress who makes quilts for the needy and poor create a special quilt for him.  The seamstress will comply only if the king gives away all his possessions. Furious, the king tries to punish the quiltmaker but fails.  Ultimately, he agrees to the demands and finds that he grows happier each time he gives something away.

A New York Times bestseller and a Booksense Book of the Year, Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcken created this extraordinary tale.

Educate a girl for 1 year

Before the holiday season kicks into full communication overdrive, we wanted to give special attention to a few organizations that offer gift giving opportunities that can literally change the world.

Today’s profile is an organization called Changing the Present, an online “nonprofit retailer” that offers specific donation opportunities where people give the gift of a specific donation item in lieu of traditional presents.  Just go online, and “create-a-card” to send a personalized greeting announcing each gift you donate in a teacher’s name.

Changing for the Present connects you with more than 1,500 meaningful charitable gifts.  Educate a girl for one year with a $250 gift.  Or, with a $10 gift, provide a meal to shelter sites through Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles.

This simple-to-use website, makes gift giving interesting and meaningful for kids and the entire family, and a unique way to show your teachers appreciation this holiday season.

One thing that we believe in at YesKidzCan! is this:  when parents are enthusiastic about making a difference in the world, kids are more likely to catch the giving back bug!  One organization that brings this point home is the Friends Foundation Too out of Annapolis, Maryland.

The Friends Foundation Too launched in September 2008 by a group of friends (Traci Boone, Ashley Boone, Christine Boone, Heather Pickens, Ellen Boteler, Staci Foster, Jen Selby, and Brooke McLean) who were interested in educating children about the needs of their local community and providing support through community service.  Friends Foundation Too is a division of the Friends Foundation, a nonprofit formed in 1998 by a group of adult friends as a way to participate in activities they enjoyed while raising money to help those in need. Over time, they realized the impact the organization was having on their kids who grew up witnessing the fun the grown-ups were having.

When the organization began, the founders’ kids ranged in age from 2 to 13.  No one can describe the wonderful evolution experienced by the kids than Traci Boone, one of the founders of Friends Foundation Too.   She shared this perspective: “Our kids enjoyed playing together while we set up for Friends Foundation activities.  As the kids got older, they wanted to help more and asked, ‘Why can’t we have our own Friends Foundation party?’  They saw the work we were doing as a party because we were having such a great time with our adult friends.  Now, all of our kids combined attend 9 different schools, but the activities we do through the Foundation offer up a great opportunity for our kids to stay connected, invite other friends, and spread the word.  Sometimes my two boys argue about whose turn it is to extend the invitations to the next project. That is a great problem to have.  It also shows me that the spirit of helping others has become part of who they are.  This is one of the best legacies to leave in this world!” 

The Friends Foundation Too kids have been involved in a range of activities including making and packing sandwiches in bag lunches for the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis; decorating gifts bags with a hat and glove set inside; and a Pajama Night which involved having the kids come together to watch movie while wearing their pajamas.  As an entry ticket, each child brought new winter pajamas which were packaged with a personally decorated gift card for donation to a local food bank that serves families.  To date, the Friends Too Foundation has donated 400 sets of warm “jammies” for local children.  Their efforts have inspired other organizations.  In fact, a local preschool followed their lead and  donated 250 sets of pajamas to local families. 

The Friends Foundation Too is a shining example of how to foster the spirit of giving in our kids – by mixing learning, serving, friendship, and fun!  We applaud you!

© YesKidzCan!, 2010

Imagine a day when kids everywhere understand and embrace the phrase, “save, spend, share” as naturally as “stop, look, and listen.”   That’s the vision of a wonderfully resourceful company called Moonjar, the leading international provider of financial literacy tools for children.

Among their many specialized products, the Moonjar Moneybox, stands out as a super practical tool for teaching young kids the basic pillars of financial money management that help them to develop good money habits.   The moneybox is a container divided into three sections for collecting money and each labeled with the following words: “Save, Spend, Share.”  Kids learn important aspects of the decision making process required when choosing how much of their treasure to keep, donate, or use.

The Moonjar store offers families a helpful guidebook, and schools can use their k-5 curriculum to enhance the educational experience.  The Classic Tin Moonjar package sells for $24.95, and another option is The Standard Moonjar, which is a foldable paper version and sells for $7.95.

We give the Moonjar money management system two thumbs up as a simple and fun tool that will help in the effort to cultivate a generation of community minded leaders with financial management skills and compassion for others – our kids!

When we come across a blog we like, we want you to know about it, too.  We really like 52 Weeks of Impact where Nils and Corinne (husband and wife) choose a different cause each week throughout the year and take action toward making the world a better place.

They chronicle their efforts (from how to shop with a conscious to using your personal talents to help others to donating blood and so much more) to achieve the maximum impact with a reasonable investment of time, energy, or money.  They also offer ways to participate from the simple to the more involved including:

• Read their blog for inspiration;
• Adopt their weekly theme and apply it to your life; or
• Take on a “Monthly Impact Challenge” where a guest blogger posts a challenge (such as collection drive or demonstrating acts of kindness). You can participate, send in your results, and see who is the “winner.” 

Corinne and Nils write, “We want to prove to ourselves and others that we can all have positive impact even with jobs, lives, responsibilities, and relationships.” Exactly what we at YesKidzCan! emphasize every day!  Find what works for you.  Big or small, you never know whose life you will change — yours, an organization’s, or someone completely unexpected.

© YesKidzCan!, 2010

Contest Winning Reusable Halloween Bags

Chicobag, an earth-friendly tote company is teaming up with the nonprofit Green Halloween to hold a contest for kids ages 1-13 to design a trick-or-treat bag that best represents “the spirit of Green Halloween.”  For example, kids could use solar powered flashlights while trick-or-treating or use reusable bags to hold their goodies. Through the contest, the company is hoping to encourage eco-friendly habits in kids that last a lifetime. Kids email their designs to www.Halloween@chicobag.com by November 5.  The winning creation will be used on next year’s bags.

Sixty  years ago this Halloween, UNICEF inspired ghosts and goblins in neighborhoods across America to take to the streets and gather small change while trick-or-treating.  Six decades later, kids everywhere continue to make a big difference helping UNICEF to provide nutrition, medicine, education and other necessities essential for healthy kids.

By collecting mere coins, kids can make a big difference:

• $120 will immunize 171 children against polio disease for life;
• $68 will buy 10,000 water purification tablets; and
• $300 will provide enough packets of therapeutic nut spread to feed 193 malnourished children a day.

This Halloween, rally kids in your neighborhood, scouting organization or other favorite group of friends to help their peers around the world by collecting coins.  Just click Halloween Party, and register to receive all kinds of materials and resources to make it a spooktacular event.   Or, go online, create a web page using their tools, and invite friends to “trick-or-treat” online.  Believe it or not, there’s even an application for trick-or-treating using mobile phones. And, some kids may be motivated knowing that Selena Gomez, star of Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place is the national spokesperson for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and will be busy getting kids to fill up their boxes and throw parties as well! UNICEF has made it easy and fun to make Halloween a family tradition that includes spirits of the spooky and generous kind!