Big Things Can Happen When You Teach Children To Help Others - Parenting with Charity
When we were in our 20’s, my husband and I organized a small charitable event that now raises over a million dollars in donations every year.
If you weren’t part of it that first year, you likely won’t know that it was us that started it. It feels weird to talk about because I was taught to do good quietly. But a theme I hear from people when it comes to charity is that they don’t know where to start, so they don’t start. So, I’m breaking my silence to tell you, small things can turn into big things. Really big things. Start anywhere.
This next part will embarrass my mom, but keeping quiet doesn’t inspire, and we need inspiration.
I was raised by parents who helped people. They did it in small ways daily, and in really big ways, frequently. As their kids, we were often part of it. They would call family meetings and ask us things like, how would we feel about taking half of our Christmas budget so that we could help another family? This stuff happened all the time. They did it quietly, not wanting attention. (No surprise that it was my mom who suggested we donate to charity: water.)
Growing up this impacted me hugely.
After we were married, my husband and I were put in charge of organizing activities for the church group we were part of. We decided to get everyone together for a service project, but after calls to the city and local charities, nothing was coming together. At the last minute I remembered a food drive we'd done in Calgary, and everything quickly fell into place for a Burnaby City Food Drive. Just over 2000lbs of food was collected by amazing volunteers. The next year it expanded to include multiple cities, and the year after I was the Assistant Director of the first ever BC Thanksgiving Food Drive. I stepped back to raise kids and we've moved, but we still do the Calgary drive yearly. The BC one has continued to grow. Each year there's over 500,000 lbs of food, valued at over $1 million, collected during that 1 day event.
I'm one of those people that believes in miracles, and that they often grow from simple people doing simple things. Do good and get your kids involved. It will change them in the best ways, and who knows what will grow.
If you weren’t part of it that first year, you likely won’t know that it was us that started it. It feels weird to talk about because I was taught to do good quietly. But a theme I hear from people when it comes to charity is that they don’t know where to start, so they don’t start. So, I’m breaking my silence to tell you, small things can turn into big things. Really big things. Start anywhere.
This next part will embarrass my mom, but keeping quiet doesn’t inspire, and we need inspiration.
I was raised by parents who helped people. They did it in small ways daily, and in really big ways, frequently. As their kids, we were often part of it. They would call family meetings and ask us things like, how would we feel about taking half of our Christmas budget so that we could help another family? This stuff happened all the time. They did it quietly, not wanting attention. (No surprise that it was my mom who suggested we donate to charity: water.)
Growing up this impacted me hugely.
After we were married, my husband and I were put in charge of organizing activities for the church group we were part of. We decided to get everyone together for a service project, but after calls to the city and local charities, nothing was coming together. At the last minute I remembered a food drive we'd done in Calgary, and everything quickly fell into place for a Burnaby City Food Drive. Just over 2000lbs of food was collected by amazing volunteers. The next year it expanded to include multiple cities, and the year after I was the Assistant Director of the first ever BC Thanksgiving Food Drive. I stepped back to raise kids and we've moved, but we still do the Calgary drive yearly. The BC one has continued to grow. Each year there's over 500,000 lbs of food, valued at over $1 million, collected during that 1 day event.
I'm one of those people that believes in miracles, and that they often grow from simple people doing simple things. Do good and get your kids involved. It will change them in the best ways, and who knows what will grow.