August 7 (Day 160) Operation Backpack

Every child wants to fit in at school, but showing up the first day without the basic supplies required for their grade makes that struggle even more difficult. Volunteers of America's Operation Backpack provides school supplies and backpacks to thousands of homeless children in need across the country. Make a donation today that can fill a backpack for a needy child in your community.


Your gift will not only fill the backpack with such necessities as a notebook and pencils, but it will provide hope and inspiration for those boys and girls who find everything about school a struggle. It’s estimated to cost $24.98 to fill one backpack for a 4th grader with the basic supplies needed this school year, a cost many struggling families simply can’t afford.

Volunteers of America provides these children a chance to succeed in life. Many of them are homeless, living in foster care, or come from families that are barely managing to keep body and soul together in these difficult times.


When you provide a deserving child with school supplies and help fund a Volunteers of America-sponsored after school and mentoring program, you give them a chance to go back to school like every other kid and a chance to succeed in life.



Please consider helping to make a difference in the lives of kids who need a little help! 





Get Involved:

Donate to Operation Backpack campaign.



Source:  VOA - Operation Backpack campaign.

June 3 (Day 95) - KaBOOM! Saving Play!

KaBOOM! is a national non-profit dedicated to saving play for America's children. Our mission is to create great playspaces through the participation and leadership of communities. Ultimately, we envision a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

Play is on the decline throughout America. Not enough playspaces are being built, and those that exist are often in disrepair. Fears surrounding lawsuits and safety are trumping common sense, resulting in sterile, uninspired play environments. Recess is being eliminated from our nation’s schools. Kids are overscheduled, and in their free time, many choose to stay indoors, lulled by television, computers and video games.
 
   
 

The deficit of child’s play is sad, since it means a world with less laughter and joy. And it has grave implications for our society and our future. The decline of play is closely linked to:

• Childhood obesity
• Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity, anxiety disorders and depression
• Violence and other behavioral problems
• Stunted social, cognitive, and creative development
• Lack of green spaces in cities and suburbs
• Fragmented communities
• Failing schools 

We fight this troubling play deficit, and its many related problems, through three central strategies:

• Constructing innovative, kid-inspired playspaces, using a community-build model that improves the   well-being of the children we serve as well as the neighborhoods in which they live.
• Sharing the knowledge and tools needed for anyone to find, improve, and/or build playgrounds on their own.
• Building a broad movement driven by research, analysis, policy, and community engagement.

In saving play, we are creating:

• Healthier, happier, and smarter children
• Greener cities
• Better schools
• Stronger neighborhoods 

To date, KaBOOM! has built over 1750 playgrounds, saving play for nearly 3.5 million children. 
Check out this time lapse video of a playground build.

Start or Join a Project in your community.

Donate:  Your contribution will help to give a child a place to play.

Donate to KaBOOM! with Your Mobile Phone.  You can now give a one-time, $5 donation to KaBOOM! through your mobile phone!  Text SAVEPLAY to 40579.

Kaboom on Facebook.

Source:  KaBOOM

May 1 (Day 62) Change A Lifetime!

May is National Foster Care Month...You Can Change a Lifetime!

All children — including the 463,000 American children and youth in foster care — deserve a safe, happy life. Young people in foster care especially need nurturing adults on their side because their own families are in crisis and unable to care for them.

Each May, we salute the compassionate people who make a difference by serving as foster parents, relative caregivers, mentors, advocates, social workers, and volunteers. Thanks to these unsung heroes, many formerly abused or neglected children and teens will safely reunite with their parents, be cared for by relatives, or be adopted by loving families.

But some children in foster care are less fortunate. Most communities across the country are urgently seeking more everyday people to help these youth overcome their troubled childhoods and realize their full potential. Take a look at a recent article from The Detroit Free Press, highlighting the need for more foster families. No matter what their age, every young person in foster care benefits from a meaningful connection to a caring adult who becomes a supportive and lasting presence in his or her life.

THE MAGNITUDE: Currently, 463,000 children in the United States are in foster care because their own families are in crisis and unable to provide for their essential well-being. Many children in care are unable to return home safely because their parents lack access to services that could help strengthen families. In addition, there are an estimated 12 million alumni of foster care in the U.S. representing all walks of life.
THE NEED: No matter their age, all youth in foster care need a meaningful connection to at least one caring adult who becomes a supportive and lasting presence in their lives. Without families or stable relationships, too many of these formerly neglected and/or abused children and teens will end up facing life’s challenges all alone.

THE FACES OF FOSTER CARE: Child welfare issues arise in families of every race, ethnicity, culture, and age group. A disproportionate percentage of youth in foster care are children of color, particularly American Indian and African American children. In addition, children of color in the child welfare system experience poorer outcomes.

THE CONSEQUENCES: Research shows that young people who age out of foster care are far more likely than their peers in the general population to endure homelessness, poverty, compromised health, insufficient education, unemployment, incarceration, early pregnancy and parenthood.
THE PRIORITY: Older youth are in most urgent need of attention. Nearly half of the young people in foster care are over the age of 10. During the last several years, the numbers of young people aging out of foster care have increased to nearly 30,000. These youths exit foster care without the appropriate family connections, resources, skills or options they need to live independently.

THE SOLUTION: Children and youth in foster care are capable of overcoming the repercussions of previous neglect and/or abuse. Across the country, people just like you are raising their voices and engaging in efforts to educate federal and state public policy leaders on the issues facing children and families. They are serving as their foster parents, relative caregivers, mentors, advocates, social workers and volunteers. Thanks to these unsung heroes, many formerly abused or neglected children and teens will either reunite safely with their parents, be cared for by relatives, or be adopted by loving families. Even better, many will not have to enter foster care if more states provide support and services to help families cope with crises early on.

THE CALL TO ACTION: Most communities are urgently seeking many more everyday people to come forward to help these young people realize their full potential. No matter how much time you have to give, you have the power to do something positive that will CHANGE A LIFETIME for a young person in foster care. Check it out and see what you can do, the projects are broken down amounts of time; a few minutes, a few hours, etc.

May is National Foster Care Month. Every state in our country has children in foster care. They belong to all of us. Now is the time to show we care. Visit www.fostercaremonth.org to find out more about the many ways you can get involved and make a lasting difference for America’s children.


Source: fostercaremonth.org

March 28 (Day 28) - All Aboard the Smile Train

One Charity. One Problem. One Goal.

Unlike many charities that do many different things, The Smile Train is focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate.

Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly. Aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job. And face very difficult lives filled with shame and isolation, pain and heartache.

The good news is every single child with a cleft can be helped with surgery that costs as little as $250 and takes as little as 45 minutes.

This is our mission:

-To provide free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries.

-To provide free cleft-related training for doctors and medical professionals.

Until there are no more children who need help and we have completely eradicated the problem of clefts.


Check out their website to view videos and see the stories of children who have been helped by Smile Train. 
Click here for ways you can help in their effort.  This is a wonderful charity doing wonderful things... Can you help them? 

“If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours.”

Source:  Smile Train

March 13 (Day 13) Make a promise...Donate a meal FREE!

Promise to make a big difference.

What's the Lunch Note Promise campaign, brought to you by Lunchables, about? Giving kids what they need to help them do their best. All we need from you is a promise to give a lunch note to your kids. It can be about anything-like some encouragement for the big soccer game or an important test. You can even use our fancy designs if you want. Or the not so fancy ones, we're easy. Do that and we'll give a free meal to a child in need so they can do THEIR best.

Here's how the donation works: For every parent who makes the lunch note promise, the Lunchables team will donate a meal to a child and their family in need through Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, which serves an estimated nine million children annually. The goal is to turn up to 100,000 promises from moms like you into up to 100,000 meals from Lunchables Lunch Combinations for kids in need.

As of today, approx. 86,000 promises have been made... go to the site http://kraft.promotions.com/lunchnotespromise/front.do and make your promise and let's reach the goal of helping Kraft providing 100,000 meals to children and families in need.

Source:  Kraft Promotions

March 10 (Day 10) "By the touch of a finger behold the world."

Seedlings Braille Books for Children

"By the touch of a finger behold the world."

In 1984 when Debra Bonde founded Seedlings, braille materials were scarce and expensive. Her goals were to increase the availability and lower the cost of braille books for children in order to promote their literacy skills and the love of reading. In 1985, the first year of book production, Debra made 221 books in her basement office. By 1990, Seedlings was producing 5,000 books per year, which precipitated its move out of Debra's basement and into the Bentley Center in Livonia, Michigan, and eventually to our present location on Farmington Road in Livonia. In 2008, with a small staff, and a group of loyal volunteers, Seedlings produced over 22,000 braille books and articles, with a grand total of 277,000 since 1984, equaling over 13 million pages of braille!

In 1994, Seedlings added The Rose Project, which provides encyclopedia articles in braille for student's projects and reports. The Rose Project has become a very popular resource for students eager to work independently. We anticipate requests for approximately 800 articles per year. Thanks to generous donations from our supporters, this service is entirely free to visually impaired students in grades 1-12.

Seedlings' Books
Seedlings braille materials have opened up new worlds for thousands of children. Seedlings Braille Books for Children is keeping visually impaired children in the mainstream of popular literature and is reaching braille readers in all 50 states and several foreign countries. Seedlings contributes to literacy by providing visually impaired children equal opportunity to develop the love of reading. At this time, less than 20% of the 50,000 blind children in the United States are proficient in braille. All too often, the written word has been inaccessible to them, and this is what we are hoping to change.


Braille books are provided at each level of development, from toddler board books to classic literature for older children. Just as sighted children learn to "read" as they are exposed to the printed word, so do visually impaired children who are exposed to the tactile page at an early age. New titles are added every year as highly skilled volunteer braille transcribers spend countless donated hours translating print books into braille and preparing them for computer disk to await production. Once the original translation is complete, additional books can be printed as needed. Exposure to popular, high quality braille literature throughout childhood increases the likelihood of children developing into able braille readers.



Seedlings' Funding
As a non-profit organization, Seedlings sells its books for considerably less than it costs to make them. Support is very broad based and comes from individuals, philanthropic groups, corporations and private foundations. Seedlings receives no government or United Way funds. Thanks to hundreds of generous donors and dedicated, hard working volunteers, the price of Seedlings' books remains far below actual production costs, averaging only $10 per book.

Click on their website http://www.seedlings.org/donate.php to see the many ways you can help! 




















Source:  Seedlings Website
Related Links:  http://www.seedlings.org/