Mom it Forward » Literacy

Service: How to Help Others by Reading

Jamie Moesser — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:00:53 +0000

Many of you may be starting to feel the increased pressure of summer approaching, with Teacher Appreciation duties, end-of-school-year responsibilities, and summer activities to plan. However, I hope you’ll still take a moment each day to incorporate a little bit of service, for both your benefit and others’. This week’s Season of Service challenge is to find ways to serve with reading. We’ve talked about this a bit before. Here are some more bite-size ideas to add to the list:

10 Bite-Size Ideas for Helping Through Reading

Ask your child’s teacher if, during Teacher Appreciation Week, your child and his or her classmates can do one 30-minute to 1-hour long service project for the teacher, whether it be cleaning the classroom windows and desktops, organizing files, or taking out the recycling bin. It is often through bits of service, done as a team, that the kids better understand their teachers and the work they do. Consider reading to the class as they work, or hiding large word strips around the classroom for the kids to find by cleaning/organizing and can put together to read a rewarding message.
Contact your schools’ PTA representative and volunteer to help out for an hour or two on Field Day.
Find out when and where the next Taste of the Nation Culinary Event is taking place (they take place all over the country), and attend one, making sure to read the menu.
Go to Scholastic or Amazon right now, and let each of your kids choose two new books that they’d like to read. Choice is often a strong motivating factor in getting kids to read.
Visit your local library with your kids, or if you don’t like your local library, find out if there is a better one from which you can purchase a library card. Consider spicing your families’ visit up by thinking of several book titles beforehand that they can locate, and then solve a puzzle by rearranging the words of the titles or find a few words in each book to put together and make a fun message.
Read these tips on how to monitor your teen’s online activities.
“Like” your favorite author’s Facebook page.
Tweet or write a blog or Facebook post about how reading or literacy has blessed your life.
Donate $10 through DonorsChoose.org to help purchase some Sammy Keyes books for Ms. Chamberlain’s fifth-grade Florida classroom, to help them get up to grade-level reading skills.
Have every member of your family write up a “job description” listing what they have to do every day. Your tween’s list might have items like: “getting dressed for school on time,” “making my bed,” and “getting my homework done.” Your three-year-old’s might list “going pee on the potty,” and “putting on my shoes.” This is their opportunity to list as much as they want, in either pictures or words. Write up one of your own for yourself if you want to. Then, around the dinner table, have everyone swap and read each other’s lists.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

Have you ever done any of these things? How did it go?
What other acts of service have inspired you?
How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.

Community: How to Build a Library and Build Your Community

Amy Sullivan — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:00:26 +0000

Bettering Communities—For a short period of my life, my neighbors remained nameless faces who smiled and waved as they quickly sped by my home. If I ever needed help, I would have to go to the “lady with two dogs who always works in her yard.” See, I didn’t know her name.

Unfortunately, not knowing your neighbors is common in today’s world. We have kids to run and dinners to make and calendars to fill. Neighbors, shneighbors. Who has time?

Three years ago, a Wisconsin man came up with a great idea: he would build a library. No, not a brick-and-mortar and staffed with employees type of library, but a Little Free Library. Todd Bol’s Little Free Library was a handmade, waterproof box he filled with books, and then placed in his front yard. Todd’s idea was to honor his mother, a former teacher and to encourage his neighbors to take a book and then return a book.

The idea caught on. Big time. Neighbors came filing out of their homes and soon, Todd’s neighbors weren’t the only ones noticing the Little Free Library. In fact, today, there are Little Free Libraries in 40 states and 20 countries. Little Free Libraries can be found in front of homes, offices and even perched at bus stops.

In addition to promoting literacy, these Little Free Libraries build community. People are talking and not just about books, but about life.

Here’s the fun thing about the Free Little Library: you can take part.

On Todd’s website, he gives plans and tips for building your own library or if creating a library isn’t your thing, you can even buy a ready-made library. Don’t have the cash to build or buy? Todd doesn’t want that to be an issue. There are underwriters and Give It Forward team members who will assist with decreasing the financial burden.

So, what are you waiting for? Little Free Libraries are a great way for you to learn the name of the lady with two dogs who always works in her yard, and perfect time to move beyond the smile and wave mentality.

Click here for a video clip about Free Little Libraries.

How do you actively engage your neighbors?

Featured image courtesy of Flickr.

Can one beyond blessed family move from addicted to themselves to devoted to others? The author of this post shares honestly at Amy L. Sullivan about her family’s attempt to become less me, me, me focused and more others centered. Amy writes for print and online publications and is also writing a nonfiction book about serving others.

Read: How to Celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday with Your Kids

Jamie Moesser — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:00:23 +0000

I still remember the deep enthrallment I felt when I first read Dr. Seuss’ The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I don’t remember why it was so enchanting; I’ve never been that into hats. These days, I have all of Dr. Seuss’ and Theo LeSieg’s books and my children are growing up hearing his stories. I hope to see that look of enchantment in their eyes. Did you know that Dr. Seuss’ birthday, if he were still alive, would have been today, March 2nd? To celebrate his legacy of literacy, here are some of the things we’re going to do, that you may want to try as well.

How to Celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday with Your Kids

Here are four fun ways to throw a Dr. Seuss’ birthday party with your kids:

Watch a Cat in the Hat Marathon

PBS stations nationwide will feature a two-hour marathon of “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That.” Check here for your local listings. It will feature new episodes about the seasons and problem-solving. My three-year-old and I had the opportunity to preview the marathon, and it doesn’t disappoint. (I was so excited to figure out that the voice of The Cat is Martin Short!)

Have a Family Read-a-thon

On the evening of March 2nd, participate in the national “Read Across America,” sponsored by the National Education Association. Help your kids pick a special spot on the floor of the family room and plop down a bunch of pillows. Provide lots of books, “brainfood,” popcorn, or treats. Challenge them to read for as long as possible, maybe giving prizes for the most pages read. Make sure to log everyone’s minutes.

Have a Seuss party!

There is no shortage of ideas online for decorations and refreshments for a Dr. Seuss themed birthday party for your own kids’ birthdays, but they can easily be adapted to celebrate Dr. Seuss himself. Here are a few posts about games, crafts, and refreshments. We’re going to make birthday cards to Dr. Seuss, thanking him for all of his books.

Display and Discuss a Dr. Seuss Quote

Print or make something that displays one of his great quotes, then read it and talk about it over dinner. For instance, Dr. Seuss once said: “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” I love that! Pinterest is plastered with tons of creative ways to present that.

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Photos courtesy of PBS and Pinterest. Feature photo courtesy of Flickr.

Literacy: Ways to Teach Children How to Read

Jill Greenlaw — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:00:37 +0000

Now looking back on my childhood, I realize I was fortunate that our house was filled with many types of books. My favorite time in school was the designated half-hour of reading in our Homeroom Class. Some students hated this time meant for reading, but it was the period I most looked forward to throughout the day.

I don’t think it is an accident that coming from a family of readers, I in turn, absolutely love to read. I enjoy Young Adult (YA) Books, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and even Middle Grade (MG) Books! My husband does think I am (a bit) silly for reading MG and YA Books, but the good ones have interesting characters and storylines such as The Ember Series by Jeanne DuPrau and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Research has found that the most important aspect of reading is how the child feels about reading. This means that positive reinforcement from parents and educators does help. For a child to see that their parents enjoy reading is one of the best ways to encourage them to read. Research has also found that forcing a child to read does not yield positive results. Instead of forcing the issue, it might work to have a reading time that the whole family enjoys together (Source: www.creativeteachingsite.com).

How To Increase a Child’s Literacy Skills

Here are some suggestions that can help your child build the necessary literacy skills.

Model Reading and Writing

My parents were always reading and I just thought that all families enjoyed reading growing up. As we know, children learn best by what we model. You can ask your middle-grade or teenager to write out to-do lists, shopping lists, letters, and invitations. Another great idea is to have them find a pen pal from another state or even another country. Also, read an MG or YA book together and discuss the characters, storyline, and what you hope will happen next if it is part of a series such as The Hunger Games. This might be fun to do together as it is coming out as a movie this March.

Participate in Everyday Activities

This could include discussing newspaper articles you read together, journals, or magazines. Another idea is to have them compare prices of items they want at different department stores or sporting equipment to find the best deal. Playing language and spelling games together like Scrabble, Boggle, or Trivial Pursuit can help improve literacy skills by looking up the meaning of certain words together.

Turn Family Vacations and Trips Into Learning Opportunities

My daughter loves to go the local museum, planetariums, and zoo. This provides a wonderful opportunity for me to explain how things work and about the animals. Maybe put together a scrapbook of a family vacation together and have them write out funny captions above the pictures.

These are all simple ideas to help to encourage your child to enjoy reading and writing. The less it feels like a chore and more a way of life, the more likely they will grow up with a positive association with reading.

What books are you and your family reading? How can you encourage your kids to read more?

References:

How To Encourage Students To Read (http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/read1).
Peel District School Board. Help your teen build literacy skills (www.peelschools.org).

Picture courtesy of Flickr.

Melissa Northway, M.S. Human Nutrition, is a mom, writer and her storybook app Penelope the Purple Pirate has been chosen as a Top 10 Must-Have eBook by lilsugar of Popsugar.com and a Top 10 Educational iPad App by Digital Storytime. She does consulting work for companies interested in marketing their apps or eBooks. She can be reached at: mcube@sbcglobal.net and http://www.melissanorthway.com or @melissanorthway. See my review of The Hunger Games coming next week.

Children’s Literacy: 5 Ways to Get Your Kids to Love Reading

Desiree Allen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:00:22 +0000

Reading books to kids, being creative when it comes to books, using technology to make reading fun — all of these activities help get kids to love reading. Did you know that more than 88 percent of children who have difficulty reading at the end of first grade display similar difficulties at the end of fourth grade? And, three-quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school. Research also indicates a growing number of children are becoming apathetic readers. Some of these children are choosing not to read; not because it’s difficult, but because they don’t want to read.

5 Ways to Get Your Kids Excited About Reading

It is important to be actively involved in your child’s literacy experiences. The following are five suggestions to help you raise a reader in your home:

Listen carefully to your child when he/she shows an interest in something. For example, if he/she tells you about a cool animal on the Discovery Channel or a new student who is coming to school from Japan, make a mental note. Find a book about that “hot topic” and remember: a child’s interest fades quickly, so don’t wait too long to get a book!
Allow choice to be a strong motivator. Let your child choose some books that he/she likes. Reading Rockets, a website dedicated to teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle, offers a themed book list that you can browse to find the best book for your child.
Don’t make reading difficult! Let your child read a few pages to you. If he/she misses five words out of 100, the book is too difficult for him/her to read by himself. Choose another book, or read it to your child. In addition to a wealth of books, your library most likely will have tapes and CDs of books, musical CDs and tapes, movies, computers that you can use, and many more resources. You also might find books in languages other than English, or programs to help adults improve their reading. You can also pick up some reading tips on the U.S. Department of Education’s website.
Model reading in your home. Set a time when the whole family reads together. Each of you can share something about what you read.
Set small goals with your child, such as reading one page every night. Use chart paper and chart the nights she reads. He/she can see for herself if she’s achieving her goal. Do an internet search for a template to use or you can make your own reading log.

How do you get your kids excited about reading? How do you make reading fun for your kids?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Desiree Allen is a thirty-something single parent with two children. A native of Denver, Colorado, she lived there until 2009, when she moved across the country to northern New Jersey with her kids. She is doing her best to avoid ‘picking up’ a Jersey accent, but she’s not making promises that she won’t eventually start sounding like some of her new friends. You can find her blogging at Writing to Sanity and tweeting @writingtosanity.

Tips to Motivating Your Kids to Read During Summer Break

Jamie Moesser — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 17:00:50 +0000

Someone once said that “Boys are meant for kisses and hugs,/For watching rainbows and catching bugs,/For sharing all of your favorite things,/For books to read and songs to sing.” Kids are meant to enjoy summer, to play, to explore. On the other hand, so many experts say that their studies should continue throughout the summer, to prevent academic “slide.” A recent Dominican University study, for example, confirmed what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library’s summer reading program [not only maintain, but] significantly improve their reading skills. How does one reconcile these two perhaps idyllic or idealistic perspectives? How does a mother channel her children’s summer energies and help them develop their brains as well?

If the vibe of MomItForward’s #gno (Twitter girls’ night out) is any indication, the secret is to make reading a part of that summer exploration and incorporate it into your daily or weekly routine, whatever that may be, in creative ways. While that may make sense in general, specific ideas and apps as to how to do that can be hard to come by. In a recent #gno Twitter party with panelists from PBS Kids, ideas were plentiful, though. Here are some suggestions for summer reading:

Ideas for Encouraging Summer Reading

@theaumsmama: “Love lazy summer reading. We participate in our libraries smr reading pgrm. Kids earn $20 to spend locally. Also, I have recorded myself reading books for the car esp. road trips.”

@PBSParents: “School may be out in the summer, but reading is always in. Keeping books in the car is key.”

@momonashoe: “I offer a reading incentives and we make a graph that goes up to the ceiling.”

@realmomsluv2eat: “My kids are self motivated by the idea that we get to go buy new books, or trade them w/ friends.”

@heatherd13: “One hour of reading a day, period. It’s not that hard to do and they pick the books.”

@7onashoestring: “My girls like to do puppet shows and use books for their scripts.”

Helpful Sites and Apps

@appsforipads: “ There is an iPad app called StoryPatch that will allow your child to make their OWN storybooks!”

@iVillage: “http://www.ivillage.com/get-your-kids-reading-throughout-summer/8-a-349754″

@spanglishbaby: “I wrote a post linking to all the 2011 Kid’s Summer Reading Challenges http://bit.ly/iyOXGU.”

@iambrimful: “Book blogs like @SevenImp and @FuseEight great new book resources. And Starfall is wonderful. And of course PBSkids.”

@coolmomtech: “ Love Brain Pop Jr. http://ow.ly/52ii6″

@mrspstorytime: “My free reading challenge game rewards reading with a pot of gold! http://tinyurl.com/yl9dkxe.”

Mom It Forward community member, @ThinkMaya, recently developed an app called MemeTales, which is perfect for encouraging kids to read at home or on the go this summer! Their website even offers a way for parents and kids alike to write and publish their own books.

And, of course, PBS Parents offers a wealth of ideas. These are just a few of so many awesome tips offered, and so many resources available for some good summer reading!

What tips do you have for encouraging your kids to read during the summer break?

Read Literacy Into Service

Jamie Moesser — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:00:39 +0000

This week’s Season of Service challenge involves serving with books, which can be great mediums for education and conversation.

10 Tips to Serve By Reading

Here are 10 bite-size ideas:

Donate your gently-used paperback books to the Prison Book Program to improve prisoners’ access to educational materials.
Order an extra book in your child’s next Scholastic book order, and donate it to your child’s school or to Reader to Reader, a nonprofit that distributes books to needy school libraries across the country.
Donate your used books abroad through Books for Africa, International Book Project, and Biblioworks.org. Visit the American Library Association’s page on sending books to needy libraries for a longer list of possible recipients. There are many.
Attend, sponsor, or host an event, such as a read-a-thon, for Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.
Participate in a Virtual Book Drive for First Book
Attend your local storytelling festival, maybe taking along a friend who couldn’t otherwise afford to go.
Volunteer for one month at your local literacy center.
Ask the librarian of your local middle school or high school if you can prepare a poster or other type of visual summary of a good book, to motivate their students to read.
Donate books or money to a charity, like the Ronald McDonald Houses, that provides assistance to families of hospital patients.
Donate a Borders gift card to a Christmas Box House.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

What other ideas do you have for giving to others by reading?
How has serving others made a meaningful difference for you this week?
How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Make a meaningful difference this season by taking the Season of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:

Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s prizes from ONE.org by clicking here.
Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

Serve Those in Foreign Countries

Jamie Moesser — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:00:39 +0000

This week’s Season of Service challenge is inspired by Macy’s Heart of Haiti project, which features Haitian artists selling their artwork through Macy’s stores and website, enabling them to earn sustainable income. Macy’s is a big corporation that has made a partnership to help those on foreign soil and remind us that there are simple ways to help each other out. Let’s follow their example and seek out opportunities to serve those in foreign countries.

Tips to Serving Others in Foreign Countries

There are so many possibilities. Here are some ideas:

Read 31 Ways to Change the World by 4,386 Children, produced by Nick Stanhope, with your kids.
Buy a $16 pineapple bowl at Heart of Haiti.com to help a Haitian artist and his or her family get back on their feet.
Help fight illegal child labor, torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by going to the World Organization Against Torture and taking a few minutes to write a government official to demand change.
Read a book online for We Give Books and help donate 20,000 new Tinga Tinga Tales books to children in East Africa.
Buy a calendar from the Central Asia Institute, which builds and supports schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Take a spelling test at FreeRice.com. For each answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
Sign up for the Mothers2Mothers newsletter to increase your awareness of efforts to provide education and support for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Make a $5 donation to Vital Voices Global Partnership, which is a non-governmental organization that identifies, trains and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to create a better world for everyone.
Check out Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton from your local library and read it.
“Like,” in Facebook, the Working Women’s Forum, which empowers poor women in southern India by providing microcredits, a trade union, health care and training.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

What other ideas do you have for giving to others in foreign countries?
How has giving to others made a meaningful difference for you this week?
How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Make a meaningful difference this season by taking the Season of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:

Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s prizes from Heart of Haiti by clicking here.
Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

Cheerios Spoonful of Stories Nourishes Mind and Body

Jamie Moesser — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:00:35 +0000

The people at the Scholastic school book publishing company love me, I’m sure, because I order so many books through them. The librarians at our local library know me by name, I’m there frequently enough. I am determined that my children shall not want for books. I dream of the day when they, full-grown, will have the same passion for reading that I do.

So when I saw a box of Cheerios in the store with a book inside, I bought it. It was a no-brainer: I got something that nourishes both my sons’ bodies and their minds, for the price of a box of cereal. That is, come to find out, the thinking behind Cheerios Spoonful of Stories program, to make it easy for children to get their hands on books. The whole project involves providing five books, determined through a rigorous and interactive selection process (including a contest for new authors to get original content), and providing the books free in specially-marked boxes of regular Cheerios starting in the month of November. Since 2001, when the program started, Cheerios has given away more than 50 million books that way.

It’s all part of Cheerios’ manufacturer General Mills‘ ongoing commitment to nurturing the whole child and connecting families by fostering a shared love of reading. This year alone, they will be providing 6 million books on-package. Cheerios themselves conducted a study of moms of children ages two to six about the role reading plays in their daily lives. The survey found that although today’s moms are prioritizing reading—67 percent read to their child at least once a day—nearly two-thirds (61 percent) say “busy schedules” prevent them from spending more time reading. The survey also examined moms’ perceptions of one of the greatest barriers to literacy today—lack of access to books.

In fact, the study showed that while in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio is one age-appropriate book for every 300 children. That’s why Cheerios has also donated more than $3.5 million to First Book, a children’s literacy non-profit that provides children from low-income families the opportunity to own their first new books. And, to celebrate the launch of the Cheerios® Facebook Fan Page, they teamed up with First Book to launch the Cheerios® 6 Million Minute Read-A-Thon. The Challenge called upon individuals to pledge to read with their children 15 minutes each day. By reaching the goal of 6 million minutes pledged, Cheerios fans on Facebook generated the donation of 250,000 new books to children in need. The books were distributed in partnership with First Book and Feeding America in fall 2010.

“Parents play a key role in helping their children become readers,” says Meredith Tutterow, Cheerios marketing manager. They’re hoping that by providing books in their cereal boxes, parents will take advantage of the opportunity to take a few short minutes over breakfast together to read with their children. I have all five of these books now, and have enjoyed read them with my son: No T Rex in the Library by Tony Buzzeo, All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, Jump! by Scott M. Fischer, Purple Kangaroo by Michael Ian Black, and Chaucer’s First Winter by Stephen Krensky.

What do you do to make time to read with your children?

Reading at The Christmas Box House Is Fundamental

Jamie Moesser — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 22:00:25 +0000

Most of us, as we prepare for Christmas, are thinking more of last-minute presents, parties, and spending time with loved ones. Certainly, most children are thinking, some even obsessing, over what’s under the tree. Hardly anyone is thinking about education or reading. Except maybe for the Reading Is Fundamental organization and Nestle, the mega food company, who plans on some children thinking about reading on Christmas morning.

Because of a contribution from them of $350 in books, local Salt Lake City moms and members of the Mom It Forward team and our kids were able to brighten the faces, and even the minds, of the children staying at The Christmas Box House in Salt Lake City, an experience which we wrote about last week. These books will help make a good Christmas possible for children who would not otherwise have one, as they’ve been taken out of their parents’ custody due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect.

Nestle’s gift is part of their support of Reading is Fundamental, which is a 44-year-old program dedicated to motivating children, particularly under-served children from birth to age 8, to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. It almost goes without saying that education is fundamental to progress in life. It is also evident that reading is a fundamental part of that education, since those who can read well generally do better in other disciplines as well. Hopefully, these gifts will make possible not only a happy Christmas morning, but the possibility of a better life through education.

It is, in fact, also the goal of The Christmas Box House to help provide the possibility of a better life for children, by providing not only temporary housing for kids up to the age of eighteen, but also a school, therapy, recreation activities, and health services. They keep a Christmas tree decorated year round, from which each child is allowed to choose a toy. They work with a number of service partners to prevent child abuse by working with at-risk families in their homes. They provide literacy programs for parents. They are also working to provide a program that helps support the thousands of youth aging out of foster care every year. The Christmas Box House International helped over 5,000 children last year.

Nestle also hopes that buyers of their products will support the cause of reading through their “Share the Joy of Reading” project, which kicked off in September of 2010. Through this program, consumers will have the chance to help a child receive a new book every time they open a variety of specially-marked bags of Nestlé candy. By entering the package promotion code on the inside of those bags at the program site www.CelebrationCorner.com/RIF, consumers have a chance to become an instant winner, for which they’ll receive a $10 book certificate. Additionally, they’ll be entered into a monthly $5,000 cash drawing. Each time a consumer enters a valid package promotion code to play the instant win game, Nestlé will donate $.10 to RIF. Additionally, Nestlé will donate a book in the form of $2 to RIF for each valid instant win prize claimed.

While it is tragic that some children don’t have the same opportunities as others to enjoy Christmas or to excel in school, we can take heart in the knowledge that The Christmas Box House, Nestle, and other organizations out there are helping to meet that need.They cannot do what they do, though, without the support of people like us. Every single one of us can lend a hand, even if our time or finances are limited. Believe me: it is so worth it. Please think of The Christmas Box House and other similar charities not only at this time of year, but throughout the year.