We were watching the news recently and my 9 year old daughter came in.
They were showing the oil spill in the Gulf. My daughter was mortified.
“Why would anyone let this happen?” “Who did this?”
“What happens to all the animals and sea creatures?”
Her mind was racing and she was mad, sad and determined all at once.
“They need help! What can we do?”
We tried to explain it, as hard as it is, and told her we could make a donation. She did not think that was enough.
She then decided to hold a lemonade stand but wanted it to be bigger and better than her little neighborhood one.
She wrote a letter to the local grocery market explaining what she wanted to do and asked to hold it in front of their store. (With her Girl Scout cookie selling experience...this made sense to her)
She spoke with the manager and gave him a drawing of the “oily animals.”
The manager immediately approved her request. Now she had to start planning.
Our daughter started a list. Obviously we had to plan for the lemonade.
A friend loaned us two big coolers. We attended a carnival the weekend before the event and she asked them to donate any leftover prizes. We then made a bean bag toss game to attract kids. The drinks and the game were covered, now we started on the posters. Photos of oily animals were glued to a poster board, colored pencils were pulled out of drawers and bubble letters started appearing. She asked if she could sell some of our Picture Me Cooking Cookbooks and keep the money for the animals, I of course said yes! We researched where to send the donations that would be gathered and settled upon the National Wildlife Federation.
The day finally came. We set up our stand and game. It was Father’s Day morning. The supermarket was bustling with folks shopping for their "Happy Fathers Day Dinners". Donations poured in faster than we could pour the lemonade.
The result was a bit over $500!!!
It was a fantastic exercise in planning, organizing and leadership for our daughter and younger son.
Our daughter felt like she made an impact and helped the “oily animals.”
She will remember this and hopefully continue to take it forward as she grows.
Have your kids done something special to help out a cause, do they often wonder how they can help affect issues and stories that they hear?
Congrats to your daughter & your family for such a worthy fundraiser! It will be a lesson she will remember always and with supportive parents like you guys, she will always be paying it foward. We live in North Alabama and go to the beach every year so we have been so sad about the oil spill also.
ReplyDelete