Involving Your Children in Helping Feed the 35 Million Hungry Americans
January 26, 2010 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
According to the US Department of Agriculture, “At least 35 million Americans aren’t getting enough food each day. Yet about 100 billion pounds of food are wasted in America every year.”
This is an astounding fact. Ask yourself: Are you contributing to the waste or are you helping feed the hungry? And, are your children aware of this fact and involved in helping reduce the number?
Raising giving children is as simple as identifying every day opportunities to give and taking advantage of them together as a family. Feeding the hungry is one such opportunity. But how to begin?
Here’s five simple steps to involving your children in this cause:
- Find a food bank in your area. Visit FoodPantries.org to identify locations.
- Collect non-perishable items you aren’t using from your own pantry and home. (Be sure to check the expiration dates on canned food and baby formula and food.)
- To add an element of fun for your kids, have them decorate a cardboard box to put the food in.
- On the way to the food bank, share with your family the facts of people facing hunger in your area.
- On the way home, ask each child to describe his or her experience, specifically how it made him or her feel to help those in need.
Making the experience meaningful, fun, and emotional will help them create a positive association with giving.
This picture is used with permission. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Teaching Children to Give—Involving Them in Charitable Programs
December 7, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 2 Comments
The single most impactful thing you can do to teach your children to fall in love with giving is to involve them in giving activities, discussing throughout them why you are giving (what the cause is for) and how it makes you and the recipients feel.
Sometimes, identifying volunteer programs that allow young children to participate in can be difficult. Today, I came across Feed It Forward (perfect name, right?). It is a charitable initiative that allows you to send $10 restaurant gift certificates to 30 people each day during the holiday season. And here’s the clencher: It’s free and only requires a few bits of data and the click of your mouse. What’s more is that you can involve your kids by coming up with a list of friends together and sitting and completing the information side by side.
You have 18 days left to take advantage of this giving opportunity. That’s 540 people you can send gift certificates to. Get ready. Get set. Go!
The Details
The Feed It Forward initiative is built upon a single giving Web site, www.Restaurant.com/FeedItForward, stocked with a total of three million, $10 Restaurant.com gift certificates totaling $30 million. The site will be live through midnight PST on Dec. 25 and allows individuals to go online to give gift certificates on a first come, first serve basis. Gift givers choose whom to give to and gift recipients then decide where to dine among more than 6,500 participating Restaurant.com restaurants nationwide.
To send free $10 gift certificates, gift givers simply enter their name and email address, as well as information for the people they wish to give to—as many as 30 people each day for the length of the initiative. They can go to www.Restaurant.com/FeedItForward every day and share gift certificates with people anywhere in the country, giving out a total value that far exceeds even the most impressive holiday gift giving budget during the healthiest of economic times.
Once a participant selects their chosen recipients, they can share a brief note about why they are giving. Restaurant.com will feature some of these messages of appreciation on the Feed It Forward home page and, if chosen by the individual, will send the giver’s personal message along with the gift certificate. As people join in the celebration of giving and give away gift certificates, a U.S. map displayed on the site will depict the areas of the country where the giving is happening along with keeping track of the amount given in real time.
Feed It Forward 2009 features include:
- Generous “daily give” allowance—Givers can give to up to 30 people per day, with the potential of giving up to $9,000 worth of Restaurant.com gift certificates through the duration of the program.
- Feed It Forward Facebook application—The application allows givers to easily access their friend network and select those they wish to give to. Recipients are sent messages alerting them of their free gift and givers’ status updates will reflect the amount of gift certificates they have given and who has received them.
- Personal message delivery—Beyond sharing their giving story publicly on the giving site, participants can choose to write a separate, private note that will be sent along with the electronic gift certificate, making the surprise of a gift certificate that much more meaningful.
About Restaurant.com
Restaurant.com is the trusted and valued source connecting restaurants and diners nationwide. The company offers savings at more than 13,000 restaurants nationwide with more than 20,000 gift certificate options. Restaurant.com brings people together to relax, converse and enjoy well-prepared and -served meals at affordable prices. To date, Restaurant.com customers have saved more than $100 million through the gift certificate program. Restaurant.com has operated since 1999 and is based in Arlington Heights, Ill.
Teaching Children to Give—Reindeer Candy Canes as Thank You’s
December 2, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 34 Comments
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is my favorite holiday movie. I love it not only for its whimsical characters and witty rhymes, but also for the lessons it teaches in true Dr. Seuss fashion. The one that stands out to me the most is individual choice.
The Grinch ’s choice was clear: He wanted to do everything in his power to have a miserable holiday season and to ruin it for everyone else, including an innocent dog and the unsuspecting Whos in Whoville. But, in spite of all of his efforts, the Whos chose holiday cheer and togetherness over reacting negatively to their stolen Christmas.
When you are out in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, are you a Grinch? Do you focus on the increased traffic, lack of parking places, long lines, or when the person in front of you takes the last toy on the shelf—the only one Tommy really wanted? Or, do you choose holiday cheer? Do you let drivers merge into traffic, turn up the holiday tunes and sing with your children instead of focusing on the frenzied freeways? Do you notice cashiers and servers and postal workers that greet you with a smile? Those that stand in all sorts of weather to collecting donations?
Teaching children to fall in love with giving during the holidays is not only about choosing holiday cheer, it’s about looking for examples of it and showing gratitude for it. A tradition we started last year to do just that was to give out candy cane thank yous to people during the holiday season. Here’s what we did:
- Made a goal for how many candy canes we’d like to pass out and purchased them.
- Placed stickers on the candy canes that said: “Thank you for spreading holiday cheer!”
- Put them in a bag and carried them with us in the car wherever we went.
- Took a few into each place we visited.
- Took turns handing them out to people who served us, people we felt were examples of spreading holiday cheer, people that looked like they could use a pick-me-up, people who were lonely, and more.
- Squealed in delight when we’d get back in the car and talk about our experiences.
- At the end of the day, recapped together as a family the holiday cheer we witnessed, people’s reactions to the thank yous, and how awesome it was to give out the candy canes.
I think the last step is one of the most important in helping children fall in love with giving. The act of giving is necessary, but feeling excited and good about it stays with you forever and not only that, it is contagious!!!
What will you do this year to spread holiday cheer?
Click here to see the candy cane making process!
Teaching Children to Give—Reindeer Cookies as Holiday Neighbor Gifts
November 29, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 5 Comments
When I think of favorite holiday activities, giving is the first one that comes to mind. I love seeing all the Angel Trees around town, collection bins for the Food Bank, boxes accepting winter coat donations, and much more. That so many organizations are centered on helping those in need is uplifting. I appreciate them making it easy for me to play a part in that outreach!
My parents were like these organizations. They provided ample ways for our family to help others while at the same time helping us fall in love with the act of giving. So, as the holiday season gets under way, I want to share a few ways you can teach your children to fall in love with the act of giving as well.
Service and giving can have many different recipients: self, family, friends, pets, neighbors, community, the world, etc. Part 1 of my “Teaching Children to Give” series focuses on those right around you—your neighbors.
Neighbors are a vital part of the community in which you live. They often are the people you see at common places in your life—at the grocery store, at church service, at your kids’ school, at volunteer activities, at community events, and more. Showing appreciation for them and teaching your children the importance of valuing them is not only important, but can be fun!
Baking reindeer cookies is a tradition I started with my two boys several years ago. My mother in law shared the recipe with me and helped us bake our first batch. Now, my family bakes these every Thanksgiving holiday weekend and takes them around to our neighbors to kick off the holiday season with a bang!
Check out this Whrrl story for more pictures and detailed steps on how to make them!
If you join or log in to Whrrl, please comment and share your fun holiday giving traditions too!
