Poverty: Mothers Save the Children With Frigidaire’s “Making Time For Change” Campaign

by Mom It Forward on April 30th, 2011 | No Comments »

If you are anything like me, and I'm sure you are just by virtue of the fact that you're visiting MomItForward, you're passionate about children: raising them, helping them, improving the lives of your own and others through proactive engagement in service and social consciousness. Recently, I had the chance to hear from representatives of Frigidaire and Save the Children, and I learned that they too are dedicated to helping children, primarily by promoting healthier lifestyles for children in need.

I was stunned to hear that one in five children lives in poverty in the United States, lacking sufficient or consistent access to nutritious foods, quality education, and safe environments. Frigidaire has pledged to donate $500,000 to Save the Children because of the nonprofit's mission to break the cycle of poverty by ensuring children have access to these things. They do this through an early childhood education initiative called Early Steps to School Success, a literacy program for kids in kindergarten through 8th grade, a physical activity and health program called CHANGE designed to increase rural childrens' access to regular physical activity and a healthy snack in the after school environment, and increase childhood obesity prevention efforts. They also help children stricken by natural disasters such as the tornado outbreak in the Midwest with their Emergency Response efforts. Save the Children is a busy organization, and has been so since its inception more than 70 years ago.

It is their CHANGE program in particular that coincides with Frigidaire's corporate philanthropic efforts to "Make Time For Change." Perhaps Frigidaire has focused their sponsorship towards helping children because children actively playing makes for more dirty clothes and uniforms, which then makes for an increased need for a good washer and dryer, like their Affinity set, which were on display at the "Stain Games" event my son and I recently attended. Maybe because it's because they have children of their own, and recognize the increased need for this kind of emphasis. Or maybe they are as alarmed as I am by the thought of children wiling away their childhoods sitting in front of TVs for lack of energy because of lack of food.

Whatever the reason, Frigidaire, through its campaign and its pledge, is providing yet another way for us, as mothers, to act on our passion for helping children. As I watched my son toss a baseball to Save the Children artist ambassador Jennifer Garner and other children, I realized the simple symbolism of a game of baseball as it applies to those impoverished children: we do need to "go to bat" for them and we can help through even modest "swings." Indeed, I'm sure that's what Frigidaire had in mind when they designed the online, interactive component of their Make Time For Change campaign, which prompts visitors to swing a virtual bat and incur a $1 donation from to Save the Children for each successful hit.

We are mothers. We take care of children; it's what we do. Whether it's by encouraging our own kids to play baseball or by "actually" playing baseball online in support of others, it's how we do it well.

My participation in Frigidaire's Stain Games event was sponsored by Frigidaire who provided me and my son with travel arrangements to and from Los Angeles to participate. Cricket also provided me with a smart phone so that I could tweet and Facebook about the Staingames at the event.