This post is my contribution to Blogust ’14—Shot@Life’s month-long campaign to provide vaccinations for kids in need around the world. Please know that every comment and social media share on this post (and all #Blogust posts) is equal to a vaccine for children across the world. You can help donate 500 vaccine donations by leaving a comment or clicking “Tweet” or “Like” to the left of this post. Thank you for supporting this very important effort!
Standing on the soccer field for yesterday’s first practice of the season, I had an opportunity to catch up with some parents I hadn’t seen all summer. Some remarked that when school got out, summer seemed long but now that it’s over, how they spent the time that went so quickly. Indeed summer was short but in between planned activities like dive practice, camp, and vacations, my ten year old daughter, Emily, raised $649 for charity by making and selling ribbon barrettes.
Last summer I remember Emily telling me, “We’re going over there to sell ribbon barrettes” as she and her best friend skipped off towards the pool snack bar during adult swim. At a quarter to each hour, the girls emerged from the pool dripping wet, grabbing a handful of ribbon, silver metal barrettes, and their handmade sign with a price list. Together they would sit for 15 minutes, taking a break from swimming and weaving ribbon in and out of the metal, as curious girls came up to see what they were doing.
A little shy, they told their potential customers they were making ribbon barrettes as a fundraiser to support cystic fibrosis (CF) research and bit about what CF is. When the whistle blew at the start of a new hour, the girls ran back to our table, carefully tucking soggy dollar bills and change into the coin purse that held their fundraising supplies. 45 minutes later they’d exit the pool and park themselves at their table again.
Last summer I merely thought it was cute that my daughter wanted to help raise money to fund research that benefits those with CF, including her best friend that she absolutely adores. I had no idea how truly dedicated she was to her first cause until this summer. Because this summer was different.
“Thank goodness!” Emily exclaimed, pulling out a lined journal that served as her accounting book from last summer. She flipped through the pages, remembering each and every sale. “Last year we donated $140,” she recalled. “I think we can raise $250 this year.”
From June, to July, and now into August, I’ve watched Emily transform from being a shy girl sitting snack bar with her sign and barrettes to a confident advocate for a cause she truly believes in. She decided that the new pins in the posts holding up the new umbrellas at the pool tables were the perfect place to hang her most recent creations, because the colorful ribbons blowing in the summer breeze were pretty and enticing to curious friends to come over and take a look.
As the months passed, I watched as Emily displayed a new level of confidence as she explained that the sale of each ribbon barrette would go benefit to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and why money was needed because of the new drugs that could make a different to people like her best friend. She was no longer the girl from last summer who sat at the table, hoping that others would notice.
Emily took charge with new ideas about how to market her ribbon barrettes to maximize exposure, enlisting my help posting photos on social media to expand her reach. She worried that friends who wanted to learn to make ribbon barrettes would use her supplies and started to give lessons only if they ponied up the money for the barrette first. She taught friends to make them and after they had made their own, they happily came over to provide pro bono help with the new orders coming in or serving as extensions of the marketing arm, running over to swim team friends to tell them to come over and have a look.
While I’m incredibly proud of Emily’s new confidence and the money she continues to raise, she’s not unusual! There are so many kids doing great things in the world but if you’re looking for a place to start with your family, here are five things that have contributed to her being a passionate advocate for her first cause.
1. Have a conversation
Talking with your children the ways your family supports causes is more important than modeling charitable giving. Elena Sonnino of LiveDoGrow.com suggest having a conversation about each of the following questions in her post called Talk to Children About Giving:
- Do my children know I give to charity?
- Do they know which charities I am supporting?
- Do they know why I choose to give specifically to this charity and the impact of my giving?
2. Inspire them
While it’s important for your child to see your family engaging in charitable acts, it’s also important for them to see kids their own age being activists and championing the causes they’re most passionate about. Disney’s new Citizen Kid site features video, blog posts, and social shoutouts to celebrate ordinary kids doing extraordinary things through
3. Let the idea come from your child
A year ago Emily’s friend, Melia, forgot her gloves during a winter walk. Her freezing cold hands motivated her to start a glove drive to benefit the area’s homeless. Melia’s original goal for Warm Hands, Warm Hearts was to collect a pair of gloves from every state but quickly surpassed her goal with gloves that were sent from around the world.
4. Ask how you can help
Once your child has an idea, ask what you can do to support them. In our house, everyone has played a part to support her ribbon barrette fundraiser as it took off! While Emily made the ribbon barrettes, I shared photos of her creations through social media, took orders, and served as the shuttle to the craft store for more supplies. Our eight year old son helped keep her ribbon organized and assisted with inventory. Dad served as the shipping department. Emily integrated her math skills into the project by taking care of the accounting and keeping careful track of ribbon barrette orders and deducting costs like postage and supplies to determine her overall total to be donated the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
5. Spread the word
There’s nothing more compelling than a child who can speak about a cause they’re passionate about. Not only does being an advocate teach kids great communication skills, but it gives them a new level of confidence. It gives them even more confidence when you let them know how proud you are of them by spreading the world to those you know too.
Now it’s your turn to spread the word in honor of Blogust!
During Shot@Life’s Blogust 2014—a month-long blog relay—some of North America’s most beloved online writers, photo and video bloggers and Shot@Life Champions will come together and share stories about Happy and Healthy Firsts.
Every time you comment on this post and other Blogust contributions, or share them via social media on this website, Shot@Life and the United Nations Foundation pages, Walgreens will donate one vaccine (up to 60,000).
Blogust is one part an overall commitment of Walgreens donating up to $1 million through its “Get a Shot. Give a Shot.” campaign. The campaign will help provide millions of vaccines for children in need around the world.
Sign up here for a daily email so you can quickly and easily comment and share every day during Blogust! For more information, visit shotatlife.org or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
So very excited that Emily found something she was passionate about and ran with it like this. Of course, she had great inspiration – watching your work with women;s groups and artisans in Haiti….clearly she learned a thing or two from her amazing mom. 🙂
I also think that learning from her peers during your Moms+Tweens+Social Good was so powerful! To have the opportunity to interact with same age kids and hear from those doing good work to champion other causes was so impactful! It was such a great day with an amazing ripple effect!
Leticia, Clearly, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! What an amazing girl you have! You must be so proud of Emily – I am!! And I love that you shared ways that we all can help inspire our own kids to do good in the world. Thank you for your gorgeous post!!!
Thank you, Emily! I also meant to include not to underestimate the power of our kids! They have so many wonderful ideas and such passion for causes that are near and dear to their hearts that can make a difference to so many!
This is one of my very favorite stories and I never tire of hearing it! Brava!!!
Thank you so much for saying so, Chrysula! I’m honored to share her story for Blogust to help kids around the world receive necessary vaccines but also hope that we inspire other kids to become agents of change!
Love hearing about kids being inspired by their moms!
😀
Hi Lorraine! Despite occasional parental fails, there are so many things that my kids do that make me proud!
This was lovely to read! Great first step! I bet most kids don’t realize what their parents are giving to!
Brandee- My husband and I have a policy to always be honest with our kids in an age appropriate way about any topic and find that our conversations range from thoughtful (they recently asked why everyone is dumping ice water on their heads) to hilarious (first night of school discussion about classmates who pick their noses!). I never know the impact that our daily conversations will have and whether they’re 5 minutes or 5 seconds, I can tell that what we’re talking about matters!
What an amazing child – who obviously takes after her Mom! Teaching children the value of philanthropy and volunteerism is wonderful. We need all the help we can get for many causes throughout the world. And what a wonderful cause we support with vaccines for children in need. Thanks for contributing.
Apple. Tree.
Enough said.
😉
You are an inspiration to all of us who know you xxx
Aw! Thank you so much Nicole! I appreciate everyone’s commitment to Blogust and the way this campaign inspires so many!
Thank you!
Thanks for supporting Blogust!
This is the greatest thing ever! Friendship barrettes!!
Yay for ribbon barrettes in honor of friendship and sharing her story to help kids everywhere get much needed vaccines to prevent childhood diseases!
Beautiful story. Even better cause
Thank you so much! It’s amazing to witness her growing confidence and dedication to advocating for funding for cystic fibrosis research!
Great story!
Thank you!
It’s such a great feeling when your child gets the advocacy bug.
It is! I remember taking her to the day-long Moms+Tweens+Social Good that Elena Sonnino coordinated in our area just over a year ago and wondering how attending might have an impact on her. Now I know!
Leticia, I love this story of Emily becoming braver as she stands up for a cause in honor of her best friend.
Thank you so much! It’s amazing to witness her growing confidence and dedication to advocating for funding for cystic fibrosis research!
Thank you Martha! I love that her love for her best friend was the catalyst for her raising funds and awareness!
Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing and hats off to Emily for her ingenuity and hard work!
Thanks so much Kaitlyn! 🙂
Bravo to you and to your daughter. You are giving back to the world in so many ways, and it was an honor to read your post.
Thank you so much, Cathy! I can’t wait for her to read this post and everyone’s comments when she gets home from school. She has NO idea I wrote about her today her story is giving kids around the world much needed vaccines through your comments and shares! What an incredible ripple effect!
Definitely ,a social sensible approach for addressing a cause like Cystic Fibrosis Foundation /research in early childhood or kid stage, is an incredibly ,unusual social intervention .Sensible parenting & society should integrate
children’s social activities ,social biological learning, health
consciousness by conversation,inspiration,human consciousness,& social support.Parenting & society support
for a children’s cause ,could develop children confidence,healthy change behavior, ability development &better social relationship with society. REF- #Blogust-Lessons I’ve learned from my daughter as she fund raises to support her first cause.@TechsavvyMama
There are so many positive outcomes when we expose our kids to causes!
Your daughter is amazing, but she gets her inspiration from you. Honored to call you my friend! May we continue helping others. xo
I love that our kids get to see us doing incredible things on a daily basis that allow us to give back! By the way, Emily keeps asking when she can come to Haiti!
Since it’s so easy to help Blogust, I decided to leave another comment 🙂
I LOVE that you commented twice! And notice that I replied to your second comment? That makes 2 more vaccines! YAY!
Thanks Leticia for sharing about your little,sweet& committed daughter Emily. Amazing! Lots of love and good wishes for her. Great learning from Emily’s dedicated fundraising initiatives.
Thank you so much!
Heart-meltingly awesome! Thank you for sharing.
You are most welcome! Thanks for commenting to support Blogust!
Great story, thanks for sharing!
Emily is amazing and she learned it from her mama! I love how you are combining her hard work and passionate to help others with your passion about worldwide health for children and giving them a Shot at Life!! Happy, happy Blogust and thank you for this great post.
Thanks so much, Jess! I love being inspired by what kids are doing and hearing about their passions! I can’t wait to support the causes that your kids champion too!
Good for Emily! such a great thing she is doing.
Thanks so much! I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to comment during Blogust! I hope Michael had a great first week of school!
This is so, so fantastic! GO EMILY! She’s a perfect example of how anyone can take something they enjoy doing and turn into a a social good effort that makes a real impact. Here is my question to you, Mom to Mom: how much should we push our children towards embarking on a charitable venture like this? What’s the balance between seeing the opportunity and “making” them take it? KWIM? I’m asking for my own purposes of course!
Thank you for your contribution to #Blogust!
Beautiful story!
What a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing. Kudos to you and your daughter!
How wonderful to see intergenerational efforts & passion for great causes. Thanks for speaking out on behalf of life-saving vaccines.
Such a beautiful post! What an amazing daughter you have! Thanks for sharing with us!
How wonderful, Leticia! What a lovely post!
What a phenomenal little girl you’re raising!! (And three cheers for vaccines!)
Wow, I remember these barrettes from when I was a girl! How awesome your daughter did this! I have also engaged my children in fundraising for charities but they have never done it all on their own. You must be so proud!
Awesome all around! Love the post, love Emily and love the example you set for your kids, Leticia!!
Wonderful that kids understand what it is to share.
This is awesome! I love when kids are inspired to help others, and when parents support them to do it.
What a great blog idea and post! I am commenting mainly to help Blogust get free vaccinations for kids this month.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story.
LETICIA! I LOVED this post! What a beautiful story and I’m so proud and so happy for your daughter! Reading about how much she has grown and changed within a year is just amazing. Love, love, love.
Miss you, by the way! (:
Inspiring! As a fellow Mom of 2, love to see this (and your participation in Blogust!)
She has years of giving and service ahead — you have a done a wonderful job helping her learn to think of others.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful story. Your daughter ‘s commitment to help her friend is inspiring. Best of luck to her and to the Shot at Life blogust. 🙂
I am so excited for your daughter, and for you as a mama, watching her grow into a confident global citizen. What a gift she is giving to her friend.
I LOVE to hear true stories of how wonderful some of our kids are!!! Thanks so much for teaching her by SHOWING, not only telling, as so may parents have done.
what a sweet story! It made me remember my daughter’s first similar outing to raise money at a garage sale. Thanks for sharing and being part of Blogust.
The hearts of children are so beautiful <3
This is so great – I saw your pictures on Facebook as she started selling these and think it’s fabulous.
You must be SO proud of your daughter. How wonderful!
With appreciation for Emily’s devotion to her best friend and dedication to “wrapping up” CF! Passion fundraising at its best.
Your daughter is such an inspiration. She’s an awesome friend, would love to order some barrettes for my daughters.How would I go about that? Let me know thank you
Loved Emily’s transformation story as she grew into an advocate for a cause that she truly believes in! As a parent, it must be so rewarding to watch her go after a goal with confidence, especially one that’s truly helping her friends and community at large. Bravo to you for supporting her mission and sharing your own via Blogust and vaccine donations. Truly inspired by both of you!
Outstanding story to share … and thanks for supporting SHOT@LIFE’s vaccination campaign and BLOGUST 2014.
So inspiring! It challenges me to think about what I can do, and how I can help to transform the lives of others!
This is indeed a worthy course and I am inspired to improve my advocacy for more vaccines coverage for children.
I love this story! I absolutely love how kind and generous your daughter is and how she put her artistic and intellectual skills to work! I love the support you and your family gave her! Thanks for sharing this inspiring story with us, and thanks for supporting #blogust ! Keep being awesome!
I love to see kids being so creative and supportive of each other. Thanks.
Children learn their values from their parents! Great job Leticia! Kudos to you & your daughter! Be Blessed! ♥
Way to go! You must be one proud mamma! I know I would be. Congrats to both you and your daughter.
Such an inspiring story! It challenges me to think about the ways in which I can be an advocate and help inspire others!
Beautiful story and way to help another person. I love when kids help others kids it’s so heartwarming. I hope she sold out! Those are beautiful, I remember wearing them in elementary I loved them.
What a lovely story and GREAT tips! Yay Blogust!
It is an amazing feeling to see your child became an advocate for a cause. thank you for sharing!
Thank you! Congratulations on your daughter, and let’s get those vaccines going!
Wonderful daughter, wise mother–so MUCH to be proud of!!
Your daughter is an inspiration, as are you!
What a thoughtful child to think of others at such a young age. I sense a life-long mission of goodness ahead for that young lady and a very full heart for her proud mommy!
What a special girl… It is obvious, as stated by others, that she has very good teachers 🙂 we always talk to our daughter about helping others, and she already has a big heart. Wants to feed every homeless person she sees outside a fast food establishment ;). I can only hope that she takes initiative someday as yours has if her soul moves her to do so. You should be very proud!
What a Great message your daughter has!
Let’s also thank Walgreens for helping to prevent vaccine preventable diseases.
Carol
Your daughter is so inspiring! Thanks for sharing the story. I would love to foster this same spirit of generosity and ingenuity in my children.
Those barettes will always remind me of my sister when we were kids — she LOVED to make them!!
What a beautiful story of your daughter’s advocacy — love it!!
Passing on a legacy of giving is the best gift a mom can give!! Hooray for you and Emily!!
Great cause
You have a fine daughter there!
This was great! #blogust
This is so inspiring and exciting! My daughter is only three now, but we are hoping we can inspire generosity in her at an early age.
Wow, great job, Emily! That is awesome that she didn’t give up, that she believes in her cause so much and has grown in her skills and confidence. Makes my heart smile!
Thanks so much, Mel! Maybe part of the growth is her age but love seeing positive changes as she advocates for a cause she cares about!
Thank you for giving your time and thought to this good cause. #blogust
Thank you for taking the time to comment! Your comment truly makes a difference for Blogust!
This is awesome!
Thank you!
These are GREAT ideas that have me thinking about conversations I need to have with my daughter and ways that I can let her take the lead when inspiration strikes!
I’m so glad my post inspires you to talk to your daughter! I know when the time is right, she’ll be a great change agent too!
That is wonderful! There are always ways we can help, glad you found one of them.
Thanks! 🙂
You daughter is so inspiring. I can’t wait to share her story with my kids to inspire them. Wonderful post!
I can’t wait to hear what your kids do and how I can help support them and causes they care about!
Great post!
Thanks so much, Becky!
This is so awesome. I love that she is really invested in her cause. I am super impressed by her. Good for her!!
Thank you so much! I’m so super proud of her and all kids who have causes they care about! Thank you for all you’ve done to raise awareness about autism! I’ve learned SO much from you over the years! xo
What a great topic! Thank you for the great ideas for inspiring not only the young people but for myself as well.
You are most welcome!
Isn’t she wonderful! Inspirational
I truly hope that she inspires other kids to champion causes!
What an inspiration!
Isn’t it amazing what kids can do!
she is amazing, but how could she not be? She has you for a role model. Love love love this
Aw thank you so much, Rachel! I loved your Blogust post too!
Pure AWESOMENESS! Going to share it with my daughter. Smiles!
Thank you! I’d love to hear what cause she’s passionate about and how we can help support her efforts too!