Donations

Schools usually participate in a variety of fundraisers and drives in order to help the community around them. It's a great way to teach kids the value of thinking of others. These events usually spark within the students a motivation to help others as much as they can.

Today, a group came to talk to the second graders about an organization that helped low income families furnish their houses with pots,pans,tables and anything else you can think of that you might need when you move into a new home. The man who started the organization was well over seventy five years old and shared many heartwarming stories about how people's generosity helped those in need.

When we got back to the classroom, I thought it would be meaningful to have the kids generate ideas on how they could participate in the donation process and what it really means to help other people.  The students had very touching ideas on why they should help others and why bringing things to donate would be meaningful to both the student and to the family receiving the help. I called on one final student to bring our conversation to an end. I asked what he would do to help others. He responded with the following:

"Well, my cousin was over this weekend and he left a lot of stuff at my house. I will probably just bring that stuff in to give away."

Kindness only counts when you are giving away your own stuff.