We're doing it! - http://my.charitywater.org/global-water-for-local-food-campaign
For a long time, I’ve felt strongly that I want to raise my kids to be “good members of society”. What that means to me is that they will be caring, compassionate people who know the world is greater than themselves, that communities work best when everyone participates and that service is important. But how can I take my words and give them true meaning? How do I instill the importance of this value in my children? The best answer I came up with was modeling. I need to show them with my actions - on a consistent basis.
So about a month ago, I started researching how to get more involved, how to give back in a few different ways. My son and I were in the car one day, and I mentioned a couple of the opportunities I found: 1) picking up litter to keep bird and animal habitats clean and 2) collecting food for the local food bank to make sure people had enough to eat. I wasn’t surprised that he was really into the first one - he’s a nature-loving kid, always interested in exploring and observing. He’s a kid who, at three, exclaimed as we pulled off the freeway, “Mom, look at all that litter!...It makes my heart hurt.”
The surprising thing was that he was really into the food bank idea, too. Maybe it was the context. When I mentioned it, I had tried to put it in a perspective he’d understand - snacks. I said, “You know how you ask me for snacks all the time, and I always have something for you? Some kids ask their parents for snacks and their parents feel really bad because they have nothing to give them.” My son replied in horror, “What?! No snacks?!” I said, “Yep, and sometimes kids even have to go to school feeling hungry because their families don’t have enough food for a good breakfast.” Again, horror, “Really?!”. I continued, “But there are people who work really hard to make sure everyone does have enough food. And we can actually help them if we want to. Are you interested in helping them with me?” I got a resounding YES. Awesome, I thought. As we closed the conversation I promised to look into how we could get started.
A few nights later, my husband brought another charity to my attention - charity: water. I watched a video of the founder explaining the org’s mission and how he had gotten started (http://www.charitywater.org/about/scotts_story.php). Incredibly inspiring. And very simple - clean, safe water for people in developing nations. I was impressed by the transparency and impact of their donation model. 100% of donations go directly to water projects, not overhead. Plus, they’ve incorporated technology that enables donors to see the actual impact they’ve made on communities. What a great way to inspire people to participate and give!
All of this reminds me that no matter how big or small an initiative is, individuals make things happen in this world - individuals who act and make choices to serve in some way. And what a wealth of opportunities are at our fingertips! So many ways to give and help. It’s inspiring to reflect on how many people are out there doing good work in this world.
There are thousands of global and local organizations out there. It makes sense to have both because basic human needs are met when we focus globally and locally. Everything and everyone are interconnected in some way. We can’t ignore the larger world, but we can’t ignore our home communities either.
So here’s how my son and I are getting started. We will volunteer to clean up habitats once a month. That one is a given. :) But we also agreed that helping people meet basic human needs - having enough food and clean water - is something we want to be part of. We came up with the idea of doing a two-for-one initiative. Let me explain more. We started a campaign on charity: water (the link above) where friends and family (and anyone else!) can donate to fund a clean water project. For every dollar that gets donated to charity: water, my son and I will go out and get a matching food donation for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. We will do this by going door do door in our neighborhoods and also organizing food drives in our community. $5 to Charity Water = 5 boxes/cans of food to the Food Bank.
Below are our sources of inspiration. Take a look!
- charity: water - www.charitywater.org
- Alameda County Community Food Bank - http://www.accfb.org/
- East Bay Regional Park District - http://www.ebparks.org/getinvolved/volunteer/operations
And if you want to support us, please do! Donate to our charity: water campaign and raise the bar on how much food we will collect! - http://my.charitywater.org/global-water-for-local-food-campaign
Getting involved...For me, better late than never...For my son, never too early. :) I’ll keep you updated on our progress!!
