Sobering Statistics

Research (State of California) indicates that within four years of leaving the foster care system:

• 50% were unemployed
• 25% had been homeless
• 40% were on public assistance
• 50% did not graduate from high school

The Children’s Village of Sonoma County is dedicated to giving children secure and happy childhoods so that they will grow up to be emotionally healthy adults equipped to lead happy and productive lives.

“It’s like we’re free and away from things we don’t want to be around.” Village Resident

Inspiration & Hard Work

Following the death of 12-year-old foster child Georgia Moses, professional child care consultant Lia Rowley was inspired to create “a unique alternative model for children in foster care” – a village that would provide a stable, nurturing environment for foster children and siblings.  After seven years of hard work and fundraising, The Children’s Village of Sonoma County celebrated its grand opening in 2006. At the celebration, a check for $1,000,000 was presented to Lia from the estate of G.K. Hardt, to be used to build The Village Community Center.  The Center is now the hub of Village activities and houses a library, computer area, tutoring space and art rooms. A playground and basketball court flank the Community Center.

“It’s not like other group homes, we (siblings) get to live together here.” “If we were split up, we would be lonely.” Village Residents

The Village Experience

The Children’s Village creates a community that works together to provide each child with a feeling of permanence and belonging by providing

• A home-like, non-institutional setting
• On-site, full-time, Village Parents
• Village Parents (trained, resident staff members)
• Village Grandparents (trained resident volunteers)
• On-site case management
• Educational support
• Social and recreational activities
• Parent education and support
• Community involvement
• Vocational and independent living skills

The Future

Today, The Village consists of 4 houses where “Parents” and 6 children reside.  “Grandparents” spend time with the children, sharing skills and acting as mentors. When fully built, The Village will consist of 8 children’s homes and 6 Grandparent apartments, and will serve 48 children and siblings.

“When I’m sad, there is someone to talk to.” Village Resident

If you’re captivated by this story of dedication to better lives for children in foster care, visit www.thechildrensvillage.com to learn more – and perhaps get involved!  To read more about charitable organizations, especially those created by kids, visit http://www.triplegift.net and click on “Blog” or go to http://spend-save-share.org.

As you know, I am not a financial expert, but I am a 21st Century grandmother who wants to help all kids grow up confident, competent and compassionate by spending with joy, saving for the future and sharing with others. You, too? Here are some ideas and resources I think you’ll find helpful in furthering that goal in a fun and creative way.

1. Plant the Spend Save Share seed with the children kids you love. Stock up on TripleGift moneyholder greeting cards for boys and girls of all ages.  Buy 1, get 1 FREE for the entire month of April at www.triplegift.net Discount code: LITERACY
2. Check out Money As You Grow - 20 things kids need to know to live financially smart lives, developed by the Youth Subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability. www.moneyasyougrow.org
3. Let kids’ interests (animals, sports, the environment, veterans’ support, etc.) be your guide to helping them learn more about charitable organizations that resonate with them. www.charitynavigator.org
4. Explore the National Financial Educators Council’s exceptional all-inclusive resource website. Their tagline tells it all, “Financial Literacy Solutions. Delivered.” www.financialeducatorscouncil.org
5. Have fun! Play games like Bite Club, Gen i Revolution and Financial Football (great for middle schoolers). Visit www.edutopia.org and click on Blogs and Game-based learning.
6. Remember what Albert Schweitzer said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it is the only thing.” Discover easy ways to set a good financial example for your kids at The Conscious Spender www.theconsciousspender.com.
7. Prepare your kids for the “wild”. Teach them good money management habits
   using FamZoo’s virtual family bank. Create accounts, schedule allowances, post chore lists, make savings goals, evaluate charitable opportunities. Find tools and support galore at www.famzoo.com.

Happy Financial Literacy Month and Happy Celebrating with the kids in your life. Enjoy!

If you’re unfamiliar with this product, just type “Charity Gift Cards” into your browser and be prepared to learn about a host of organizations that offer a wonderful solution to the “how can I be sure they’ll share” dilemma.

The concept is simple and identical to the one used by Target, Toys R Us, Macy’s, etc. You, the gift card buyer, purchase a card by making a donation in the amount you desire. Your young recipient redeems the card by choosing a charity to receive the donation.

There are a growing number of charity gift cards from which to choose, many of which feature corporate, memorial and special event giving programs in addition to individual charity gifts for individuals. Here are three of my favorites, which I like equally for their simplicity of use and large number of charity choices.

Just Give (www.justgive.org) has been in existence for more than 10 years. Congratulations!  On this site, gift card purchasers can create personalized cards with their own images, stock photos or messages. More than 1.8 million charities are listed in its Just Give Guide.  I especially like the site’s Inspiring Kids page about kids and giving, its Memorial Registry and Act Locally, where you can enter your own zip code and find charities close to home.

TisBest (www.tisbest.org) strives to help gift givers to “Give a Better World” by offering e-cards, printable cards or plastic cards that feature the giver’s choice of image and customized message. I love their tagline, “Converting a gift-of-stuff to a gift-of-good every 43 seconds!”

Six Degrees (www.sixdegrees.org) was created by actor Kevin Bacon and the nonprofit Network for Good in 2007. Based on the concept that any one person is connected to any other person six or fewer relationships, it strives to use that idea to accomplish good in our small world, “social networking with a social conscience”.   Six degrees’ Good Cards^® may be redeemed as a donation to more than 1 million charities.

I know from experience that these products and the idea behind them work. Last Christmas Day, a friend who’d purchased Spend Save Share cards for her sons posted on Facebook, “Tyler’s online researching charities!” Yes!

My own grandsons, who’ve received many charity gift cards by now, often donate the “Share” portion of their gift to their favorite animal rescue or sports-related nonprofits, but sometimes decide to branch out. Last year, Matt, saw something on TV about kids in Africa not having clean drinking water and identified that as his cause. Charity gift card in hand, he went to the card’s site and searched “clean water” and “African children”.  He chose from a variety of organizations listed and made his donation to a cause that spoke to him at that time.

So there you have it, an easy way to give your favorite children the incentive to share with their world and, perhaps, begin a lifelong habit of philanthropy. This holiday season is the perfect time to start!

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.— Dr. Seuss

Today is the unofficial first day of fall, but a temperature of 92 degrees is forecast where I live. I’m hoping some lemonade stand proprietors will be out there selling cool drinks after school and donating some of their profits to a started-by-a-kid charity like Claire Williams’ Read to a Teen.

Now that school is back in session, many adults are thinking about the reading proficiency their young sons, daughters and students may have lost over the summer. Aspiring teacher Claire Williams never stopped thinking about it because she was doing something about it! Claire spent her high school senior summer shepherding her Read to a Teen (www.readtoateen.org) program and helping children retain and improve their reading skills.

Six years ago, as a sixth grader and avid reader, Claire began volunteering at her local library’s summer reading program. The next year, “Book Legger” Claire visited summer schools to read to kids. As the years passed and Claire continued volunteering, she saw how cutbacks in education funding (particularly those that eliminated summer remedial reading programs) were affecting young readers in general and ESL (English as a Second Language) students in particular. She was inspired to help.

As a high school junior, Claire worked with her library to establish a program through which children, ESL and others, could sign up to read with teen volunteers for 30 minutes per visit. The following year, she got her high school leadership class involved and, soon after, established Read to a Teen. The interactive learning program centers around engaging the child in the story and prompting them on comprehension questions. The goal? To help children develop better learning tools to use throughout their education. 

Along the way, Claire learned that many of the children who came to read with Read to a Teen volunteers did not have books at home. Undaunted, she spearheaded a book drive that collected 1,600 books for children. She donated them to the pediatric department at Axis Community Health, a local nonprofit health and human services organization which serves many area low income families. Read all about it in last January’s Pleasanton Weekly story, Books! One teen’s gift to the young, by Dolores Ciardelli.

Claire’s efforts continue as she looks ahead to a career as a teacher. She has received a $1,000 grant from Kohl’s to further her Read to a Teen efforts and has received inquiries from other Northern California communities interested in replicating Read to a Teen in their areas. Claire was recently named a Hometown Hero by Bay Area News Group and Comcast, celebrating people in the San Francisco East Bay Area who make a difference in their communities. Reporter Katie Nelson’s newspaper story, Hometown Hero: Pleasanton student develops novel reading program, appeared on August 21st and describes how a girl’s passion for reading and desire to help children succeed has made a big difference to many young students.

As the school year gets under way, kudos to Claire and to all the students whose lives she and her team of volunteers have helped. Happy reading to you all!

(Photo credits: Doug Duran, Bay Area News Group)

Amelia Pennewell was 9 years old when, on their way to visit relatives on Thanksgiving Day, she and her family passed homeless people lined up outside a soup kitchen. She noticed that some of them had no shoes and many had no socks. She asked if she could get them some socks and her mother agreed that she could. The next day, the family bought socks and took them to the shelter and thus began a simple, kind gesture that turned BIG –Amelia’s Socks.

Amelia arranged for a sock drive at her school in Livermore, CA and contacted the media. That first drive collected 3,000 pairs of socks that were donated to shelters in Oakland, Calif. and the Livermore area. Three years later, Amelia’s Socks was delivering socks to shelters in many more San Francisco Bay Area cities.

Fast forward to the present. Amelia is now 21 years old and a student at Arizona State University. Her sister, soon-to-be high school freshman Pamela White, now organizes the ongoing collection of socks. To date, Amelia’s Socks has donated more than 100,000 pairs of socks far and wide. Not only Bay Area residents, but also victims of Hurricane Katrina, needy families in Mexico and soldiers in Iraq have received new, warm, dry socks to wear. The soldiers also requested children’s socks to be given to Iraqi children.

Want to get into the act? Kids can experience the joy of picking out socks with some of their lemonade stand profits, delivering them in person or popping them into a box or padded envelope and mailing them to Amelia’s Socks, c/o First Presbyterian Church of Livermore, 2020 Fifth Street, Livermore, CA 94550. With back-to-school around the corner, now is the perfect time to shop for kids’ socks!

As a high school freshman, Sarah Williams read a memoir by Andrew Bridge called “Hope’s Boy”. It was about the poor treatment and neglect of foster children who were deprived of basic needs, even blankets to keep them warm, and it changed Sarah’s life. She wondered how many other children were cold at night, too. She learned that there are 80,000 children in foster care in her native California alone. She thought of the simple no-sewing-required fleece blankets that her volleyball team had made for themselves in their team colors. An idea sprouted. Why not make blankets for foster kids? Before she knew it, local businesses had donated merchandise and the Lions and Rotary clubs has provided $3,000 in seed money for fabric and supplies. She was on her way.

Sarah created a one-page instruction sheet and started involving others to make blankets – from her high school friends to neighbors to church groups and Scouts to a group of senior citizens who precut 300 blankets so that children in kindergarten-third grade classes could make blankets by simply tying the fringe. She surpassed her goal of 800 blankets.

Now, where to send the blankets? A chance encounter with a tree trimmer outside her house provided the answer when he told her about his volunteer work with Foster A Dream, which entertains 1,200 children from three countries at its Winter Wonderland event every year. Sarah could give away blankets there. Her newly established nonprofit, Creative Kindness (www.creativekindness.org), donated 1,500 blankets to Winter Wonderland in 2008.

In order to ensure the Creative Kindness concept would be self-sustaining, Sarah created Legacy Blanket Kits. Each kit holds scissors, instructions, enough fleece for one blanket, and the request to restock the kit with fleece before passing it along to another volunteer.

To date, Creative Kindness has given away more than 3,500 blankets and estimates that Sarah’s efforts have generated the creation and donation of more than 20,000 blankets nationwide.

This is where the Olympic Torch comes in.

When Coca-Cola announced it was forming a torch relay team and would be selecting individuals based on their community work, Sarah was encouraged to apply. She hesitated, but her dad did not. He nominated her. In March, Sarah was notified of her selection, one of 11 teens nationwide, to carry the Olympic Torch!

Sarah and her father left for England this week to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience and to bring awareness to the needs of children in foster care. The idea born of a sad, true story in a book will now call worldwide attention to the needs of many, many foster children.

If you’re inspired by Sarah’s story, find out how you can get involved by visiting www.creativekindness.org and, perhaps, use some of those lemonade stand proceeds to buy fleece! If you’d rather, you can also donate money that will purchase fabric for others to fashion into blankets.

Sell lots of lemonade and enjoy the Olympics, everyone!

Talk about a lemons-to-lemonade story! Jack Witherspoon has written the book on it, literally. In case you missed his story – on Jay Leno, Rachel Ray, etc. – here’s a capsulized version about how a kid found his passion in the midst of pain – and started making a difference.

Jack is a 12-year-old sixth grader who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 years old. At age 6, suffering a relapse, he found himself in the hospital for treatment and watching endless hours of cartoons on TV. Out of sheer desperation for something different, he started watching the Food Network – and became hooked! He soon dreamed of becoming a chef like the ones he watched on TV.

On his website, Jack says, “I loved cooking so much my parents organized a fundraiser where I could be the guest chef. We called it “Cooking up Dreams” and we donated all of the proceeds to pediatric leukemia research at Miller Children’s Hospital where I had been receiving all of my treatment. The event took place at Christmas time in December of 2007 and it was a huge success.

“I was in all the papers and even on the local news! We did our fundraiser again the following year when I was almost finished with my treatment. My family and I wanted to raise enough money this time to establish the Jack Witherspoon Permanent Endowment at the hospital. The event was another huge success, in fact it got so much attention I was asked to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Bonnie Hunt Show. This was a dream come true for me. I was able to cook some of my favorite dishes on National TV!”“

In June 2011, Jack published his first cookbook, “Twist it UP”. It contains 60 of his favorite comfort food recipes and is so named because he likes to put his own twist on common recipes. According to Jack, the recipes are all taste tested by Jack and his brother and are “family approved.” A portion of the proceeds from Jack’s book go to his Miller Children’s Hospital endowment and also to the Beckstrand Cancer Foundation for whom he is the spokesperson.

About the same time as the book became a reality and Jack was finishing 5th grade, he relapsed again. A bone marrow transplant followed, along with months of recovery. According to Jack’s blog, he’s feeling much better now and is looking forward to a summer of visits to the beach, barbecuing, cooking and hanging out with this friends.

Jack’s story and cookbook have captured many people’s attention, including Rachel Ray’s, who invited him to appear with her on her show in May. watch-me-cook-on-the-rachael-ray-show

Enjoy “the 4th”, everyone, and try Jack’s red, white blue Berry Delicious Parfait for a patriotic dessert! The recipe is in his book.

Do you know about Shannon McNamara’s SHARE in Africa (www.shareinafrica.org)? The organization has received a lot media attention and kudos from celebrities like Oprah and Michelle Obama, so you may have. It's a story that bears repeating.

It all started four years ago when 15-year-old Shannon and her parents went on a service vacation to Tanzania. Shannon had learned about the prevailing gender bias in that country that prevented girls from receiving an education. She wanted to help change that condition and enlisted her friends and neighbors to donate children’s books and school supplies, which she and her family took with them to Africa. 500 pounds of them!

By the end of their vacation, the McNamaras had converted a rundown classroom into a library, the beginning of an ongoing project called SHARE (SHannon’s After-School Reading Exchange.

Four years later, SHARE in Afrcia, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has continued to build libraries and established after-school reading programs to help girls. According to its website, the organzation has collected 33,000 donated books, thousands of school supplies, and dozens of laptop computers and e-readers. It has installed electricity and solar power in three schools; constructed a dining hall that seats more than 700 students; and spread awareness about educational gender bias in African cultures to thousands of Americans.

No longer sending books to Africa because the libraries are self-sustaining and shipping costs are high, the McNamaras now take donated e-readers and digital cameras when they make their annual trips to Tanzania. Their current focus is on raising money for scholarships so that girls in Bukoba, Tanzania can continue their education beyond elementary school. (Because of the cost, about $1,000 per year per student, only about 5% of Tanzanian girls currently attend high school.) SHARE‘s goal is to send 100 girls to the Hekima Girls’ Secondary School this year. With an education, they will be equipped to find employment and lift themselves (and possibly their families) out of poverty.

What started with simple donations of books is truly making a difference in many lives. There’s lots more to the story, which you can find at SHARE‘s website. I hope it will inspire young entrepreneurs to help girls on the other side of the world to have the education Amercian girls take so for granted. Those lemonade stand proceeds and other dollars may be donated at www.shareinafrica.org/donate. I raise my glass of lemonade to you in a toast. Good job!

Next time: Young Jack Witherspoon cooks for a cure.

The “cards that give” concept is simple. You, the gift card buyer and donor, purchase a card of a specified value  and your recipient chooses the charity to receive the donation by using the card. 

If gift cards work so well in the “spend” department, why not try them in the “share” area, too?  I love the idea – easy to purchase, easy to give, easy to use.   If you’re not familiar with this concept, I encourage you to visit one of the following websites and give the gift of sharing to the kids you love. I’ve just scratched the surface here, but urge you to spend some time researching this industry and be inspired! 

Charity Choice (www.charitygiftcertificates.org) was established by an individual who wanted to make an appropriate memorial donation to a co-worker’s family, this site allows you to search affiliated charities by state.  Cards are available for 20 occasions in 100 different designs and include e-cards, printable cards and both plastic and environmentally-friendly corn-based cards.  Cards may be customized with the donor’s image or company logo. A special “Corporate Solutions” page serves businesses’ needs. 

Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), well-known as an evaluator of nonprofits, offers The Good Card in amounts of $10-$250 which can be given electronically via email, printed on your printer or mailed as a hard copy card (for an additional charge).  A $5 fee is added to each purchase, $2.50 of which goes to Charity Navigator (a nonprofit itself) to further its mission of rating charities. E-cards contain links back to the site where recipients can research nonprofits and make informed choices.  

Just Give (www.justgive.org) is celebrating its 10^th Anniversary. Congratulations!  On this site, gift card purchasers can create personalized cards with their own images or stock photos. More than 1.8 million charities are listed in its Just Give Guide.  I especially like the site’s “Inspiring Kids” page about kids and giving, its “Memorial Registry” and “Act Locally”, where you can enter your own zip code and find charities close to home. 

TisBest (www.tisbest.org) strives to help gift givers to “Give a Better World” by offering e-cards, printable cards or plastic cards that feature the giver’s choice of image and customized message. There’s a special page for “world-changing wedding gifts and favors” and a new TisBest Business Section that features testimonials and highlights gift cards as employee and client appreciation gifts as well as Cause Marketing and CRS tools.

Please share your experiences with using charitable gift cards. It’s an idea whose time is definitely here!

Several years ago, Jeff began painting note cards while recuperating from chemotherapy and radiation treatment of a genetic condition that had left him sight impaired. For something to do, he began selling his note cards from a table in his driveway. The venture was an instant success, earning over $13,000 in three months! What would he do with the money? Not wanting anything for himself, he immediately starting giving it away, and to date, has donated more than $350,000 to more than 50 charities, mostly children’s health organizations. See Johnny Dodd’s “Heroes Among Us” piece in People Magazine or view Jeff’s entire story and see his incredible work here.

Rachel showed philanthropic leanings from a very early age, donating her hair to Locks of Love at age 5. When she was 8, she learned about charity:water at church and decided to forgo her 9th birthday party and ask her friends to donate $9 to the organization that provides clean water to people in Africa. She raised $220, a bit short of her $300 goal.  But here’s where her story turns really sad and really happy, at the same time.

Soon after her birthday, Rachel died as the result of a 13-car pile-up on the highway near Seattle. To show their support of the family, friends and neighbors began donating to charity:water in her honor. The word spread.  And how!  Today, Rachel’s giving spirit is alive and well and shared by people worldwide whose donations to charity:water have topped $1 million! You can read a wonderful account of the way Rachel has inspired others in syndicated columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s “The Last Fundraiser”, which appeared in papers August 14, 2011. http://tinyurl.com/3mkce4z

The take-away message here? Be inspired by these kids! Share the stories with the children you love and inspire them to do what comes naturally: Sharing.