That's The Way To Travel!

I can't wait until my kids are old enough to travel like this: 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/travel/volunteer-trips-is-your-family-ready.html?pagewanted=all

Thank you @lliance!

A special thank you to Michael Alberg-Seberich for meeting with me last month to discuss Little Givers.  We had a great chat and I am encouraged by the positive change happening around the globe (he hails from Germany).  Let's keep thinking about how to teach the next generation what is good and right - giving, caring, empathy, volunteering and leaving the world just a little bit better than it is....

Here's a link to the article:

http://philanthropynews.alliancemagazine.org

Honestly good

The Honest Company www.honest.com is smart - and its not just for moms. They offer natural, non-toxic, eco-friendly, organic bath and skin care products and green cleaning products, all packaged nicely and delivered to your door monthly. I'm so happy I don't have to think about whether or not I have laundry detergent or body wash. 

Plus, for every product purchased they donate products, money, time and effort to addressing critical health and social issues affecting children and families. They are currently partnering with Baby2Baby - www.baby2baby.org. 

Good products, good philosophy, good for me.

Happy Giving!

NYT - Don't Indulge, Be Happy

This is a great article from The New York Times (July 8 2012) entitled, 'Don't Indulge.  Be Happy'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulge-be-happy.html?pagewanted=all

The article talks about the fact that everyone thinks making more money will automatically make us happier - which is true......but only up to a point.  After a certain point, what makes people even happier is being able to help others.

The developmental psychologist Kiley Hamlin took this concept one step further and gave toddlers goldfish crackers.  Of course, the children were thrilled to receive the treat, but when asked to share their crackers with a monkey puppet, they were found to be even happier than just receiving the treat and eating it themselves.

These are great findings to support that giving is good, has benefits beyond helping the recipient, and can be done at a young age with positive results.

Happy Giving!

happy dog, happy cat, happy kids

Everyone needs love...even animals.  Many pet shelters will let you play with the animals if you call ahead and arrange a time.  This is a great rainy day activity.   Another great idea is sponsoring an animal and helping them find a home by posting signs in your neighborhood.

We like Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC) www.barcshelter.org which is a not-for-profit, no kill, privately run animal shelter that provides a safe haven for abandoned animals and works to find them permanent loving homes.  They also have a volunteer schedule on their website to make it easy to help out.

Happy Giving!

Simple Ways to Show Appreciation

Have you thought of leaving a note for your mail carrier?  I'll bet it would really brighten his/her day if a note appeared from a child saying 'Thank you!"

Have you thought of donating old books to your local public library or doctor's office?

Have you thought of planting flowers at your local park?  (get permission first, but many parks would welcome new flowers and little 'workers' to help plant them!)


Happy Giving!

One For One

Toms shoes (www.toms.com) aren't only stylish and comfortable - they also give a pair of shoes to a person in need for every pair purchased.  As of September 2010, they donated 1,000,000 pairs of shoes to people in 20 different countries.  I love the little girls styles!

For more about One For One:  http://www.toms.com/our-movement/movement-one-for-one

Does Your Family Love Animals?

For $50 you can adopt one of more than a hundred different animals with the World Wildlife Fund – www.worldwildlife.org - and your child gets a matching stuffed toy.  What a great birthday or holiday gift!!! 

Fruit Stamping for Fun!

Love this idea!  Cut fruit in half and use them as 'stamps' - kids can create great gifts, like dish towels to donate, sell or give as gifts.

Happy stamping (and giving)!!

Vacations With A Heart

I’ve taken Abercrombie & Kent vacations before becoming a parent – they are fabulous!  I hope to do so again when my kids are older – they have wonderful family vacations that help families explore and learn together. 

A&K also has a philanthropy division - AKP.  AKP supports grassroots projects around the world, efforts spearheaded by dedicated local experts in conservation, education, community development and public health. AKP projects dig wells, teach and shelter impoverished children and strive to reverse the effects of global climate change.  For more information, visit www.akphilanthropy.org

Happy Giving!

The Volunteer Family

Heather Jack was looking for opportunities for her children to become involved in a charity and eventually launched The Volunteer Family (thevolunteerfamily.org) to help families find charitable opportunities they can do together. 

“Kids as young as three can learn empathy, tolerance, and respect…” says parenting expert Michele Borba, Ed.D.  Research shows that kids with at least one parent who volunteers are three times more likely to participate in a do-good activity versus those whose parents don’t get involved. 

Check out the VolunteerMatch app to find local charities and get involved! (free; itunes.com)

Happy Giving!

Who Stole The Cookies From the Cookie Jar?

I love making everyday items look special.  This is an adorable idea that would also be easy for a child to help with - measuring cookie ingredients and filling mason jars with the ingredients.  Attach the recipe to the jar and voila!  An instant gift.  These could be donated to a senior center or sold as part of a charity drive.

Happy Giving!

Eat Your Heart Out!

From March 23rd to April 1st when you dine out at more than 1,000 restaurants, bars, and clubs in NYC, The Brooklyn Young Mothers' Collective gets up to 6% of your purchase. The Brooklyn Young Mothers' Collective provides disadvantaged young mothers with a comprehensive set of services focused on their educational attainment and social development to help them to become self-sufficient adults.  For more information, please visit www.bymcinc.org  To participate, register here:  https://www.goodsearch.com/gooddining  (As a side note, Good Dining offers many different organizations to sponsor for this discount, or you can work on adding your own!). Happy giving (and eating!)

Not Just Cleaning The World, Changing It

The UN just named Seventh Generation a 2011 Leader of Change in recognition of its outstanding leadership and exemplary commitment to the pursuit of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.  As if we needed another reason to love these great products….

Happy Giving!

Color Color Color!

Here's an easy way for your children to give to someone in your community - have them make a card to welcome a new neighbor and deliver it with a little treat.  This will help teach little ones to care about their neighbors, plus it may result in a new friend!

Happy Giving!

Where's The Soul?

'Brainy Kids Coveted, But Where's The Soul?' is an excellent article by Lori Borgman printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently.  It talks about how there is such an emphasis on raising SMART children, but not enough on raising GOOD children.  We need parents to care about teaching principles and ethics just as much as focusing on test scores.

This is where Little Givers comes in!  Little Givers can assist parents by helping to teach these qualities and provide resources to busy parents -  making it easier to give back to our communities and instilling those intangible qualities in our future generation.

Socks 'N Undies

"Where Do You Give?" just mentioned us on their blog and we would like to say thank you!  


http://wheredoyougive.org/blog/post/little-givers


We also love the idea of donating socks - what an easy and fun way to give back:  

As parent Jennifer Maulsby explains, “It can be hard for kids to understand what it means to go hungry, but they get what could happen if they didn’t have socks to keep their little toes warm.”* Maulsby runs the New York operation of SocksnUndies, which distributes new socks, undergarments and toiletries to homeless shelters. Their website (socksnundies.org) offers a step-by-step guide for families or classes to organize a sock collection and examine the how’s and why’s of giving. It explains, for example, that issues of warmth and comfort may initially resonate with children, but these conversations may also lead children to understand that we take action in order to help others uphold personal dignity. 


Happy Giving!

C Is For Cookies!

Who doesn't love cookies?  Especially as a surprise thank you.  

Here's a fun family activity:  make and decorate cookies and deliver them to your local firehouse or police station to show your appreciation.  Not only is it an easy and fun project for children, it teaches them to remember to say 'thank you' to those who give of themselves every day to keep us safe.

Happy Giving (and baking)!

Healthy Choice Really Is A Healthy Choice

Healthy Choice soups, along with their parent company, ConAgra Foods, has a foundation set up to help fight childhood hunger by generating awareness about the cause, working with partners to provide solutions and mobilizing resources to help kids get the nourishment they need. 

The ConAgra Foundation has set up grants that currently provide:

• Six Food-America food banks across the country for a two year period
• 23 food banks in 20 states will receive Hunger-Free Summer Grants
• Low income families make healthy decisions with their food budgets through their Cooking Matters program
• Children that need access to food programs during weekends and school vacations through the BackPack Program
• Distribution truck grants to allow food banks to get food to those who need it most.

How can you get involved?  You can organize a food drive with neighbors or with your school.  The ConAgra Foods Foundation’s website has information on how to do so, with detailed instructions for running a successful food drive - http://www.conagrafoodsfoundation.org/help-conagra-foods-foundation/organize-food-drive.jsp

Happy Giving!

Want To Donate Your Children's Drawings?

Kyle’s Wish – www.kyleswish.org - is a charity that takes a colorful approach to helping kids with cancer.  Little ones can donate their own artistic creations to be distributed to children undergoing treatment in hospitals.  Or they can donate $25, which will provide up to three kids with art supplies.

Happy Giving!

Let's All Go To The Movies!

If you haven’t read The Lorax to your children, you really should find the nearest bookstore that sells Dr. Seuss classics.   The Lorax is a grumpy, but loveable little character that fights to save his natural habitat.  The book teaches kids what air and water pollution are, and why it is important to respect the environment in only the way Dr. Seuss can.  It's one of my 4-year-old's favorites!  The movie will feature Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift.  The movie opens on March 2^nd, which is also Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

Caped Cute-sader Valentine's Treats

Valentine’s Day gives us an excellent excuse to talk about showing our appreciation towards the special people in our lives.  I love this cute idea that you can work on as a family, and then have your child hand out the caped cute-saders to everyone who is ‘super’ in his/her life.

Girl Power!

The Girl Effect (www.girleffect.org) is an amazing organization aimed at helping girls around the world.  With a new daughter, this really hits home with me.  So....why should we pay attention to girls?

Little research has been done to understand how investments in girls impact economic growth and the health and well-being of communities. This lack of data reveals how pervasively girls have been overlooked. For millions of girls across the developing world, there are no systems to record their birth, their citizenship, or even their identity. However, the existing research suggests their impact can reach much further than expected.


THE RIPPLE EFFECT
When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
(United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 1990.)


An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
(George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881[Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)


Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
(George T. Bicego and J. Ties Boerma, “Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Compara- tive Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries,” Social Science and Medicine 36 (9) [May 1993]: 1207–27.)


When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
(Chris Fortson, “Women’s Rights Vital for Developing World,” Yale News Daily 2003.) 

POPULATION TRENDS

Today, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world.
(Population Reference Bureau, DataFinder database, http://www.prb.org/datafinder.aspx [accessed December 20, 2007].)


More than one-quarter of the population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls and young women ages 10 to 24.
(United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision,” http://esa.un.org/unpp, and “World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision,” www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WUP2005/2005WUP_DataTables1.pdf.)

The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 —already the largest in history - is expected to peak in the next decade.
(Ruth Levine et al., Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda [Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development, 2008].)


EDUCATIONAL GAPS
Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
(Cynthia B. Lloyd, ed., Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries [Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005].)


Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.
(Human Rights Watch, “Promises Broken: An Assessment of Children’s Rights on the 10th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/promises/education. html [December 1999].) 


Pretty convincing data.  Check out the Girl Effect website for ways to get involved.


Happy Giving!