By Kylee, age 11
We are excited to share our first blog written by a kid!
Last year in my 5th grade class, each student got to choose a community service project that would either benefit our school or the community. One of the groups was the Mediators. They would go out on the playground each day, and if the younger kids had fights, they would try to help solve their problems. Another group was the Green Team. The Green Team went around the school two days of the week, and put the recycled milk bottles into bags. Then, at the end of the year they brought the bottles to a recycling plant where the plant reused them. With just six members, the group I belonged to, was the Hunger Helpers — the smallest of all the groups. The Hunger Helpers asked families from our school do donate food to a worthy food bank.
Even though there were only six of us, we accomplished a lot. First we chose the food bank we wanted to donate to that year. We chose the Capital Area Food Bank. Then we chose what we wanted to get people to donate that month. We also wanted the children who received the donated items to eat healthy, so we made a point of choosing healthy things for people to donate. For example, the first month we chose juice, but we made a point of telling people that we wanted it to be 100% fruit juice. Each Monday we would skip recess to make posters to hang up around the school or write a script for a Hunger Helpers skit we would perform at a school assembly. We put a big box in the lobby of our school and that was where the people who brought in the items would put their donations.
And guess what? It paid off! Even though we got some weird things along the way (like when people were supposed to bring in grains, they brought in sweet potatoes and canned frosting), we were successfully able to donate juice, grains, soup, and canned goods to the Capital Area Food Bank. It just goes to show you, you don’t need an army of football players and a TV ad to make a difference. You just need a good idea, one person, and some passion for the cause you are trying to support.
Maybe your kids can suggest a community service project to their school that everyone can do together! Whether its collecting canned goods for a food bank, planting a garden in the back of the school, or recruiting people to come to an adoption event, your community will appreciate it!
It was fun for me to share my school community service project. If you would like to share yours, email a project you did to YesKidzCan! You could have a chance to get your own article posted on this blog!
© YesKidzCan!, 2011
Here’s a story that validates why we named our company “Yes Kidz Can!” Lizzie Marie Likness is only 11 years old but she is a shining example of how kids can dream and achieve big things. Not only is she an entrepreneur, she in an entrepreneur with heart.
