Last week I shared with you the newest Champions for Kids project that my family and I were participating in. Being a huge fan of reading and books, I was excited that the September SIMPLE Service project was all about collecting books for kids in need! As part of the project, I hosted a Nickelodeon Big Help Book Drive.
I have always felt really lucky that I had two parents who made sure I fell in love with books and reading practically from birth. Some of my earliest memories are of being read to, or of flipping through books on my own. I had a pretty expansive library even as a toddler, and as I got older I was encouraged to pick out new books at book fairs and through those monthly fliers from Scholastic that were sent home from school. I’m confident that the foundation in literacy that my parents built for me directly influenced my decision to make English one of my college majors.
What I didn’t know at the time was that wasn’t the case for every child. 61% of low-income families have no books for children in their homes, and more than 80% of the preschool and after-school programs serving at-risk children have no books at all. If you remember from the Champions For Kids Bag It Forward project I participated in last month, the teacher who received my donations said they sent books home with the kids at night so they would have things to read.
There are books available at Walmart that are based on Nickelodeon TV shows, like these SpongeBob ones. A lot of them come in these six packs, which are a great savings!
School is officially back in session in our area, as well as many areas around the country. If you don’t have a student of your own, you probably knew anyway if you’ve been to pretty much any store out there. The Back to School aisles are packed with notebooks, pens, crayons, glue, and oh, yeah – lots of people!
While there are a number of people filling up backpacks this fall the sad fact is that not everyone can afford all that’s needed to have a successful school year. It’s not a new phenomenon but the current economy certainly isn’t helping the situation. After college I spent a year teaching in a rural public school district. The town and school were filled with wonderful, hard-working people, but it certainly wasn’t a wealthy group of folks. I know that I wasn’t the only teacher who purchased a few things out of her own pocket in an effort to ensure the classrooms had everything they needed.
I have participated in two previous Simple Service Projects in conjunction with Champions for Kids, so when I heard about their newest collaboration with Elmer’s that encouraged people to “Bag it Forward” by purchasing school supplies and donating them to a deserving student, teacher, or community group, I was immediately on board. Not only was I a teacher, many of my friends and family members work or have worked in education: my father was a teacher many years ago, my sister-in-law is currently student teaching to finish her degree, my uncle was a superintendent, my aunt was a teacher, my best friend and her husband work in the same school district, and my aunt-in-law is a teacher – just to name a few! Continue reading »
A few days ago I shared with you that Champions for Kids had partnered with Spinbrush for a new SIMPLE Service Project – Spin Into Action – and that my family was excited to be participating. Well, over the past few days we’ve also involved our family and friends to collect a donation of oral health care items. We also made a return trip back to Walmart (you can see our entire first shopping trip here) to pick up a few additional donations of our own.
When we hit the oral health care aisle at Walmart I was glad to see that they had some of the Captain American Spinbrushes left, because it was one I really wanted to include in my donation. They also had plenty of the My Way! Spinbrushes which I think are completely cool (really, where were all these fun toothbrushes when I was a kid?). Since I had already picked up a Captain America one, I went with the pink My Way! one to balance it out. Continue reading »
A few months ago I introduced you to Champions for Kids when I participated in my first Simple Service Project. We really enjoyed making a difference, even if it was a small one. So I was really excited when I was offered the opportunity to participate in a second one, this time partnering with Arm & Hammer and their Spinbrush line.
Many families, especially in this economic climate, have to make sacrifices, and for some of them one of the cuts made is dental care. In fact, 19% of kids between the ages of 2 and 19 have untreated cavities. This can lead to embarrassment, pain, and distraction from their education.