Strollerderby : charity

How You Can Keep Kids Breathing

JeanneSager — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:01:00 GMT

It's a disease that takes their breath away, but you can give it back.

Kids born with cystic fibrosis fight daily against the excessive mucus production that makes breathing a struggle. Their projected life expectancy is around thirty-seven years old.

But the Breathe 4 Tomorrow Foundation doesn't hit you over the head with their simple video that's starting to generate funds for the small Washington-based non-profit. All they ask for is $1.

In this economy, it's the kind of message that works. Pictures of brave kids undergoing treatments, a (relatively corny, but oh well) song about hope for tomorrow, and a simple request. Give them $1, and they'll help pay for the medicines for kids with cystic fibrosis.

Fundraising videos - especially featuring kids - can be cloying. But this one hit me just right (in the tear ducts). They're not presumptuous - just like the kids aren't presuming they'll live much past high school graduation or college. But you can change that.

Check out the video below. Did it move you? Then donate over at Breathe 4 Tomorrow.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Actors Donate Pay to Heath Ledger's Daughter

Amy Kuras — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:31:00 GMT

At first glance, I thought this was pretty ridiculous: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell all donated their earnings for a movie called “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” to Matilda Ledger, the late Heath Ledger’s daughter. Ledger had a role in the movie and the three actors stepped forward to take over his role, playing the character at different times in his life.

On the one hand, there are tons of kids whose parents died and who don’t have the kind of resources Matilda Ledger does, not to mention that Ledger was earning millions a picture and I am sure her mother, Michelle Williams, does OK as well. And if she really is in danger of being in need, well, why weren’t her parents setting aside some cash for her future when they make that kind of money? These guys would arguably serve society better by donating their paychecks to a charity that helps, say, kids without health insurance before ponying up for a child whose mom ought to be able to take her to a doctor whenever she needs it.

On the other hand – this was Ledger’s last role and had he completed it, that money presumably would have at least partially gone to his daughter’s care. I think it’s a sweet gesture by three actors, fathers themselves, who would want the same done for their kid in the same situation.

What Do Madonna and Peanut Butter Have in Common?

JeanneSager — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:32:00 GMT

With the plight of children in Malawi back in the news (thanks Madge!), a little part of me hopes some extra attention will go the way of the groups working to help fight malnutrition in the poverty-stricken African country.

It's never boasted a pointy cone bra, but Project Peanut Butter is a trendsetter in its own right. Created by Mark Manary, M.D., a pediatrician at St. Louis Children's Hospital and a professor of pediatric medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, the non-profit has revolutionized feeding protocols for malnourished kids in Malawi.

The miracle drug? Peanut butter, a paste that's easy to swallow, rich in nutrients, high in protein and lipid dense. Dubbed "ready-to-use therapeutic food," peanut butter can be stored for months with no refrigeration without spoiling. It doesn't need to be cooked (so homes without gas or electric can use it). And it can be easily transported by truck to the rural villages of Malawi, where seventy percent of the children go hungry every day.

Until recently, twenty-three percent of children in the country died before their fifth birthdays (unless, of course, a mega-celebrity swooped in to rescue them). Thanks to Project Peanut Butter, that number is dropping.

Since most of us can't pull a Madonna, Project Peanut Butter accepts donations to help the kids.

Image: Project Peanut Butter

When a Mother Goes Bald

JeanneSager — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:01:00 GMT

I've spent the last month and a half knocking down doors trying to convince a lot of broke people to give me money so I could shave my head.

Even in a bad economy, I hit my small goal of $1,000 raised for the St. Baldrick's Foundation - so you can all laugh at my very bald head.

Ready for it?

Yes, that's me, bald. My head got stuck on my pillow Saturday night, and I can officially clean out from under my nails just by rubbing my fingers across my scalp, but it was worth it.

I'm a hero for kids with cancer. Everyone who shaved their heads during this St. Baldrick's season is a hero. So is everyone who pulled out their wallets and gave - whether it was $1 or $1,00.

In many ways, the smaller amounts meant all that much more - because they came from people I knew were struggling this year. As one fellow shavee told me at a firehouse last week where twenty firemen came together like a true band of brothers and shaved their heads - "people still believe in a good cause."

I walked down the line among men who get out of bed in the middle of the night to rush out in their turnout gear and run into burning buildings, men who are used to ragging on the reporter just because they can, and they were shy, quiet. "Anything for the kids," they admitted. I nodded. "No, anything," one man said, looking me straight in the eye.

Most of us will do anything for their kids. But kids overall? I have to shave my head every year - not because my daughter has cancer (thank goodness) - but because I can't look a sick child in the eyes and not see my daughter standing there. I can't hear the story of a child stricken with a leptomenengial tumor at three and not think, Oh my God, my daughter is only three. I can't turn off the mother in me when I hear about children's cancer.

There are hundreds of other charities - worthy charities - but I'm a parent. So I pick this one. And every year, for as long as I'm still growing hair, I'll give it up, hoping that some day, one day, that $2, $25, $100 I talked out of someone, will change another parent's world.

Want to donate on someone's head? Check out the St. Baldrick's Foundation website and see if anyone you know shaved their head this year.

How to Say No To the Kid Selling You Something

JeanneSager — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:06:00 GMT

Let's face it, no matter how bad the economy gets, there's always going to be a kid knocking on your door with something useless to sell.

For Scouts, for church, for school, for the poor starving children in Ethiopia (so they can finally get a break from Mom harping on about cleaning their plates).

And, if you're anything like me, you buy it all. Because you . . . just . . . can't . . . say . . . no. But there's a set of columnists over at Slate who say you can say no to charitable giving without feeling like a total tool (OK, I added that), and they're willing to tell you how.

Written in part by a former staffer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who had to say "uh uh" thousands of times over to worthy charities who were lining up for grants, the piece advocates pumping up the asker . . . and then saying no. Basically their suggestions are to validate the person fundraising by telling them how important their work is, and how much you value what they're doing.

OK, that might work for adults, if you can figure out how NOT to sound like a patronizing SOB. But with kids . . . it just ain't gonna work. Why?

For starters, there's that cute factor. As my colleague Brett says, if you want to sell something to him, send a little girl knocking on his door. That's why schools and churches use kids to sell. They KNOW we don't want to disappoint kids.

And that's the second part. Kids don't want to hear that they're doing a great job. They want results. It could be seen as an unfortunate result of our instant gratification society, but a part of me is happy to know kids want to succeed and they are learning to stand up for themselves. The words "you're doing a great job," ring hollow for a child who has been told that they need to sell 10,000 boxes of sugary treats in order to get their school a new set of swings. If you're not buying, they're that much farther from their goal.

And kids like goals. They like the big picture. They're not quite as good at the smaller one, like the size of your paycheck this week or the comparatively huge number on your mortgage bill.

My advice? Honesty. Not brutal honesty, but honesty all the same. Like, "I'm sorry, I just bought from Timmy down the hall." or "I'm sorry, I am full up on wrapping paper this week." Sometimes cutting them off at the pass works, setting a limit like "I'll buy if you have something under $5." If they do, great. If not, well, at least you set a limit that priced you out of that $50 raffle ticket. You were honest.

The important thing is the follow through. Don't say no to one kid then buy from the next one - word always gets around. Don't say, I have only $5 to give and then rack up a $50 tab - they'll know you're a soft touch.

Not that there's anything wrong with being a soft touch. I can't say I've ever passed a kid and said an outright "no." But I have skimped out on my purchases, picking the $7 box of candy and NO MORE before.

As long as it's the kid asking and not their parents, I'll probably say yes. But I don't have to like it. As I told my babysitter's granddaughter, "Don't ask if I WANT to buy some Easter candy for your trip to sleepaway camp. Ask if I WILL buy some Easter candy for your trip."

Image: Childrens Dayton

Did Salma Hayek’s Breastfeeding an African Child Mean the End of Man’s Inhumanity to Man?

Cole Gamble — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:00:00 GMT

If you’ve read The Grapes of Wrath, you’ll remember the book ends with Rose of Sharon Joad, still grieving her stillborn baby, breastfeeding a starving man. Any English teacher will tell you by having Rose of Sharon give of her most valuable gift after all the tragedy she’d endured, Steinbeck is commenting on man’s capacity to extend humanity to his fellow man in even the bleakest of circumstances and how collective sharing is the only way out of despair.

So here’s my question, is Salma Hayek much of a reader?

Much has been made about Hayek’s breastfeeding of a starving African child, an action that seemed more impulsive than premeditated. The lovely Ada wrote a piece at Time noting Hayek’s action might bring about a change of perception about breastfeeding in Africa, where men denounce it because it interferes with their sex life.

Could Hayek’s action also be the first symbolic salvo in America’s commitment to Africa’s future? (Yes, I am aware Hayek is not American, whatever) Many critics accuse our country of doing too little to help the depressed people of Africa, and those critics are likely right. One of my favorite examples is how the Bush administration planned to tackle the AIDs epidemic in Africa by giving the people abstinence training (guess no one told Bush a big source of AIDS spreading in Africa is rape. Why won’t those darn rapists just abstain?) Forgive me for making a somewhat stretch literary analogy, but the Salma Hayek BFing incident conjured The Grapes of Wrath to my mind and made me think that perhaps in the new administration we will take a more active role in helping Africans out of the horrors they face every day.

Too much of a stretch??

Salma Hayek Shines Spotlight on Breastfeeding Taboos

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Shave Your Head, Fight Children's Cancer

JeanneSager — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:33:00 GMT

How much is your hair worth to you? Enough to save a kid's life?

I've got to confess, I've never been one of those women who connected her femininity with the length of her hair. I first shaved my head in high school. When my daughter came along, I realized the shock value of walking around as a woman with short hair was worth something more. I could go down to the scalp for more than just my need to shave minutes off of the morning routine. These days, I shave my head for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Founded in 1999 by a bunch of re-insurance agents looking to kick in for a good cause, St. Baldrick's "shaving events" happen every March (and some throughout the year). The premise is simple - people put up pledges that go to the foundation. In return, you shave your head. They laugh. Everyone wins.

So why bother with this one?

I almost look at my yearly head shavings now as good karma. I grow my hair out (the real sacrifice for me) for a few months, then I walk into a room filled with the kind of positive energy you don't encounter much anymore. It's a day when people are thinking about kids. Family members of kids lost to cancer and kids who've survived cancer sit down in chairs beside high school kids who have spent the last few weeks banging down doors for money even knowing the funds raised won't help pay for their trip to Disney World or football uniforms.

And the kids come too. The kids who have survived a fight with cancer. No one wants to see their child fall sick, and staring in the eyes of one of these kids always sends parents of the healthy kids home to wrap them in their arms.

But what does that do? It makes us feel better, but not much else.

So how much is your hair worth? Willing to put it on the line?

If you're not, how about finding a donor event near you and dropping by to meet the kids who make it happen, maybe stashing a little cash in their pot? It's just hair, but this is one of those times bald is absolutely beautiful.

Image: St. Baldrick's Foundation (visit to find a shavee event or search to see if anyone you know is shaving this year)

Salma Hayek Breastfeeds Hungry Baby in Africa - With Video!

SunnyChanel — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:07:00 GMT

When actress and mother Salma Hayek does charity work, she doesn’t just give her time and super star status, she gives it her all, including her famous and bountiful boobs. When visiting Sierra Leone on a charity mission for UNICEF, Hayek took it upon herself to breastfeed a young hungry baby . She reportedly felt a bond with the infant because they just happened to share the same birthday as her daughter Valentina. About the generous offering, Salma said:

"The baby was perfectly healthy, but the mother didn't have milk. He was very hungry. I was weaning Valentina, but I still had a lot of milk that I was pumping, so I breast-fed the baby.

"You should have seen his eyes. When he felt the nourishment, he immediately stopped crying," said Hayek.

When asked if she thought Valentina might have issues sharing her mom’s milk she said "I actually think that my baby would be very proud to be able to share her milk, and when she grows up, I'm going to make sure she continues to be caring, generous person," says Hayek.

She also related a story about how her great grandmother had also breastfed a hungry baby that she had encountered on the street many moons ago. The generority of the Hayek women seems to run in the family.

The scene was captured by a crew from Nightline and you can check it out below.

Would you ever breastfeed another person’s infant? Would you let your child suckle from another mother’s breast?

Georgia Family Has Everything They Own Up on eBay

JeanneSager — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:59:00 GMT

I could make all sorts of jokes about throwing in the kitchen sink. But I won't.

Because there's nothing funny about the circumstances that forced Gregg and Brittiny Peters to put every single item in their household up on eBay. That means the washing machine, the beds, even the family car.

Gregg, a tennis instructor, and Brittiny, a stay-at-home mom, have three kids. Seven-year-old Ayla has a rare and debilitating form of arthritis while two-year-old Noah is autistic. The medical bills have crippled the family, and the economic downturn hasn't helped.

So they put everything up - first on eBay where they have set the opening bid at $20,000, the exact amount of medical debt hanging over their head. Then, someone launched a Website dedicated to their cause, www.everythingweown.org. The title page says it all - Everything We Own, Except the House and Kids.

It wasn't the Peterses creating the site - it was art gallery owners Don Weir and Andrea Chandler, who say the Peterses weren't asking for anyone to give them money. But people wanted to give. So Weir and Chandler threw up the site, which tells the Peterses' heartbreaking story:

"We are just 2 average people who became 1 above-average "team" when we met and fell in love almost 9 years ago. We both agree that neither one of us would be "whole" or "complete" without each other! Our incredible love for one another has ALWAYS pulled us through even the most difficult times we have faced together."

Reading up on the Peterses' blog, Brittiny breaks down their medical issues - she has a blood clotting disorder that's made it hard to obtain health insurance, while Gregg is self-employed and thus doesn't have an employer-sponsored health plan. They have Medicaid, but it falls short on covering a lot of the kids' bills, and does nothing to cover the loss of income when Gregg has to stay home to help out with the kids or the travel expenses of seeing out-of-town specialists. Since 2001, the couple has suffered through losing a baby at three months and watching another come into the world stillborn. Their three surviving children are their "blessings," despite the maladies that have put the Peters' in such dire straits.

"Nothing's more precious than the kids, not a sofa, not a TV. It is as simple as that," said Gregg Peters in an interview with the Daily News.

So far, there have been no bids on eBay. The family is selling it all as a lot - from the kids' swingset to Mom's jogging stroller. The latter site has brought in $10,000 in donations so far - and if the eBay site doesn't get any hits, they're going to break it all down and sell things off item by item.

A part of me would love to see the donations mount so high they never have to come to that point, but an even bigger part of me says good for you to the Peters. As Brittiny says on the family's blog, Gregg worked hard for everything they owned - and they bought nice things BEFORE the children's diagnoses put a financial strain on the family. Now they're acting responsibly and selling the "nice things" off one by one.

It's sad that it has to come to that. But here's a family who has taken the words "fiscal responsibility" to heart. Their kids are lucky to have them.

Sex Offender Wins Raffle that Benefit Rape Victims

JeanneSager — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:26:00 GMT

I'm not sure whether to cheer this story or go take a long, hot shower. So let me dig in.

A man convicted on three separate incidents of sex abuse of a minor - two in 1993 and a third in 2000 - has won the lottery. According to Alaskan law, games of chance have to benefit a charity, including this one - the first-ever statewide lotto. In this case, the non-profit chosen was Standing Together Against Rape (STAR), a charity for sex abuse victims. Fitting, isn't it?

Alec Ahsoak of Anchorage walked away with $350,000 after taxes on the half-a-million-dollar prize, and now he says he'll use the money to turn around a life that has been troubled since childhood when he was a kid growing up in the foster system. He'll also be setting aside $100,000, which he'll be donating to the folks at STAR to help their cause. He'll be helping kids in the state where sex abuse rates are the highest in the nation, the state where he is listed on the Department of Public Safety Sex Offender/Child Kidnapper Central Registry.

Obviously Ahsoak has reoffended as so many sex offenders have. He has, however, served his time and has been "clean" for the past nine years. He claims he's a changed man, and the money will help him plan for retirement. That he's even considering turning money over the charity says something about where he is today, and the charity can use this as a teaching point in its awareness campaign. This could potentially work out even better for them than the initial linkage with the lottery and the accompanying money and publicity.

But a part of me is still feeling skeeved out by this whole coincidence. Does this sully the waters for charities linked to the lottos in Alaska?

Image/Source: KTUU

Florida Mulls "Deadbeat Dad" T-Shirts

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Georgia Sex Offenders Must Turn Over Passwords "For the Kids"

Dad Gives Away 500 Lobsters For Cystic Fibrosis Awareness

JeanneSager — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:28:00 GMT

I'm always amazed with the ways parents will fight for awareness for their kids' diseases. But I've got to give this Dad snaps (you'll forgive me for the bad nineties era reference in a moment).

Don Hebert, a lobsterman from Marshfield, Mass., spent hours of his New Year's handing lobsters out for nothing - to spread the news about his seven-year-old son's fight with cystic fibrosis.

There's no cure for the genetic condition which causes thickened mucus secretions, often putting a strain on CF sufferer's lung function. According to CysticFibrosis.com, the leading support site for CF patients, it's caused by "a genetic mutation that disrupts the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein."

Today's technology allows for CF to be caught via prenatal screenings - generally the chorionic villus sampling - but that's only if a mother has that particular test (it's not required in all states). Little Michael Hebert wasn't diagnosed until the day before he started kindergartent (he's now in first grade) after his coughing fits sent his parents to doctors looking for answers. At just seven, Michael has to put on a therapy vest twice a day to help loosen the mucus in his chest, and he makes frequent visits to Boston's Children's Hospital. Life expectancies for CF patients vary (the oldest known CF survivor lived to the ripe old age of seventy-six), but many succumb in their twenties or thirties.

For the Heberts, the idea was simply to let more people know it's out there. They weren't asking for money (hence the FREE lobsters, handed out long with pamphlets about cystic fibrosis). Don and his friends spent the latter part of the afternoon plowing driveways and shoveling steps and walkways, once again for free, to spread the word around town.

In all, the Heberts handed out five hundred lobsters along with their pamphlets. I give Don snaps for creativity - and for being a good dad.

Image/Source: The Daily News Tribune

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Stop Sending Palin Baby Presents

JeanneSager — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:03:00 GMT

So the economy's in the crapper, and parents are cutting back on everything from Santa to travel. So why are gifts pouring into the Palin household?

The former (so happy to say that) vice presidential candidate's father, Chuck Heath, told Grandparents.com that gifts for granddaughter Bristol Palin's soon-to-be born baby boy have been piling up from around the world. Really, this is what people are spending their money on?

In case none of you remember, the Palin family isn't exactly hurting. Mom just got offered a raise by one of the commissions she helped appoint (OK, OK, she turned it down - but who is actually getting offers for EXTRA money in their paycheck this year?). Then there are all those RNC shopping spree clothes (including that Ramones tee for a tot).

Bristol Palin does not need our charity. But at last count, Chuck Heath says there are one hundred thousand gifts waiting for baby boy Johnston. Yes, you read that right - one hundred thousand.

He admits she'll probably never use them all (ya think?), but I've yet to hear any offers to give these things away to a pregnancy center or maybe make some Christmases brighter around Alaska.

We get it, some people actually liked Sarah Palin. If you really want to pay tribute to her, how about donating some gifts in her name to someone who could actually use them?

Ooh, I know, how about one of those centers for pregnant teens she cut funding from? Just a suggestion.

Image: Reuters Via ParentDish

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Hey Obama, Give This Kid an Interview!

Granting Son's Last Wish, Mom Opens Orphanage in Nairobi

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:35:00 GMT

When 15-year-old John Halgrim told a Make-a-Wish volunteer that his last wish was to open an orphanage in Africa, the volunteer was dumbfounded. Normally, the foundation grants requests such as meeting a celebrity or taking a trip to Hawaii. She wasn’t sure that Make-a-Wish could carry out such an ambitious, long-term request. “Do you have a second wish?” she asked John. The answer was no. “God didn't allow this to happen to me so I would get something out of it," John said, referring to his illness.

As Make-a-Wish struggled to figure out how to grant John's request, his mother arranged for him to meet with a local pastor and explain his desire to help destitute children in Africa. After he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, John had deepened his relationship with God. So he was thrilled when the pastor asked if he could videotape John discussing his vision for an orphanage that would serve children orphaned by AIDS.

After showing the videotape to a few congregations, the pastor had raised enough money for John’s mom to proceed with designing and constructing an orphanage in Nairobi. Two weeks before he died, John was shown an architect’s sketch of the John E. Halgrim Orphanage in Nairobi. And last month, one year after John’s death, his mother flew to Nairobi to welcome neighborhood children into the building.

Photo: Help the Least of These

They Say – Raise Kids Who Care

Brett Singer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In their December issue, Reader's Digest profiled a few families who are doing unto others. It would have been funnier if they had said "kids who kare", but they aren't going for humor. (I'm a little silly, I know. Bear with me.)

This is actually an important topic. When the economy was flying high – Dow at 10,000, blah blah blah – it was easy to forget those less fortunate. Or, if you were more a more charitable sort, it was easy to remember them, since you had more money. Now that your wallet is a little lighter than before (especially if Bernie Madoff was handling your money), it's easy to make charity one of the first cuts.

The thing is, that's not a good message to send to your kids. There are ways to do something for other people without giving money, and children need to learn that at an early age.

Reader's Digest profiles five families who did their part for charity in various ways. One that I liked, because it's year-round and fairly basic, is the Church family, who keep a tzedakah box in their kitchen and drop any spare change in it. "Once a year, they empty it out and decide what organizations they want to donate to that year." Tzedakah is a Hebrew word meaning "charity" but Wikipedia adds that the root of the word is tzedek, which means "justice". (I also think it's funny that the Church family is Jewish. Because I'm silly.) What I like about this is not that it's a religious thing, which is fine. It's that a family could do this no matter what faith they are, even if they have no religious leanings at all. Heck, even a Satanist could stick a coffee can in on the windowsill, toss spare change into it and give it to charity when it fills up. (I'm not sure if they would. I don't actually know any Satanists. But it seems like something that could happen.)

The bottom line is that it's important to somehow impart to kids that there are people that are less fortunate than you are, but in a way that they can understand. In the fifties, some kids were told to eat their vegetables because "children were starving in China." I grew up in the Northeast Bronx, so my mother told me that there were hungry children in the South Bronx. Being a budding loudmouth, I offered to bring them my peas via subway. This is an example of a method that doesn't work so good. However, my mother also used to pack food to be delivered to homeless shelters, something she still does today. Knowing that she did this, an action that was direct, apolitical and required only her time and not much money, absolutely had an effect on me.

For some specific examples of families Raising Kids That Care (Kare? Nah), check out the Reader's Digest article.

Image/Source: Reader's Digest

Boy Saves Brother's Life With Bone Marrow

Half Price Toys at Target

Infant Twins Safe After Newark Carjacking

Christian Words Removed From Oxford Junior Dictionary

When Do You Make the Kids Give Their Toys Away?

JeanneSager — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:26:00 GMT

I remember the year my dad told us we were going to have to give up our Hess trucks. Apparently this is a New York thing (or at least a Northeast thing), but Hess trucks were THE toy to get every Christmas.

Being told we had to hand over the Hess prize for some poor little kid who wasn't getting a visit from Santa was kind of like being told the big guy didn't exist. My brother and I were devestated.

Weeding through my daughter's toy box for stuff to drop at the used toy exchange for the needy kid, I decided I'd give her a bye another year. She needs to learn about giving to others, but at three, I'm willing to limit the lesson to helping me make the food delivery to the local pantry. She doesn't need to learn the toy lesson just yet.

To be honest, we never really gave up our toys. In the habit of picking up a couple extra Hess trucks every year in case my grandmother ran short on her usual list of gifts, my Dad had extras stashed away right next to the two set aside for my brother and I. When he learned a local family was in need of some holiday cheer, he pulled from his stash and asked my Mom to do the wrapping.

He told us we'd be making a difference for little boys who might not get much else that year. He told us just how proud he was of us for being so giving. We weren't perfect; even hindsight won't color me an angel. I was a little kid, and I had little kid thoughts. But I remember the pain ebbed as quickly as it came. We watched little boys tear open the wrapping paper and drive those trucks around the room, "vroooming" like it was nobody's business, and we didn't once complain. Of course, we had our trucks under the tree on Christmas morning, my dad just grinning like he'd pulled off the Christmas caper.

He did something; he made me remember it. He turned out a kid who makes sure she does the angel tree and the toy exchange, drops food off at the pantry when she has a few dollars to spare. It's a tradition I don't just want to pass on to my daughter - I will. Because corny and hokey as it is, that's still my version of the Christmas spirit. This year, we'll do the food drop-off together. I'll give the toys she no longer uses a good scrubbing while she's asleep and drop them in the toy bin while she's at school.

Maybe next year, she'll be ready for us to do it together. And who knows, maybe I'll hold back one toy to slip under the tree - a treat for the kid who makes me proud.

Image: Hess Toy Store

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XBox Writes Santa Letter for Your Kids

Santa Claus Can Call Them For You

Their Favorite Characters: Christmas-ized

Santa Shortage Strikes Germany

Nothing Says “Save the Children” Like a Sweet Stache

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Welcome to Mustaches for Kids, your chance to run a marathon for a children’s charity—“without the exertion, cramps, or dehydration.” Instead of actually running, you simply have to sit around drinking beer and letting the facial hair directly above your upper lip grow. Naturally, friends, family, and strangers on the street will appreciate your sacrifice so much they will be eager to give you donations for children’s charities such a Make-a-Wish Foundation and New Orleans Children’s Hospital. And you better get started now: the Growing Season is from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

If you’re wondering whether this organization is for real, apparently you’re not alone. The FAQ page of Mustaches for Kids’ Web site is filled mostly with variations of that same question. But, as outlandish as it seems, chapters of Mustaches for Kids do exist throughout the U.S., staffed entirely by volunteers. At the end of the annual growing season, Participants (official known as “Growers”) have raised more than $150,000 for charity since 1999.

Sorry, no Hitler staches or “Rollie Fingers handlebar.” And you must shave at least once a week. And you should also probably wear a "mustache-enhancing costume" to the annual Mustache Competition. This is no joke, people. We're talking mustaches, kids in needs, and high-stakes meaningless competition. You're gonna need to bring your A game.

Photo: Mustaches for Kids

The Smurfs Turn 50

Brett Singer — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Here's my "I feel old" moment of the day: the Smurfs are celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Yes, the Smurfs. Those little blue creatures that live in a village with one elderly man and one female. They always say things are "smurfy", which means both nothing and anything. Some bizarre full-size man and his cat always want to eat them. This was a hugely popular Saturday morning cartoon in the early 80's (who could forget such classic lines as, "Nature Smurf, this time your love of animals has gone too far.") The toys – mostly immobile hard PVC figurines – were a major collectible among the under 10 set.

The 50th anniversary is of their first appearance in a Belgian comic strip called 'Johan et Pirlouit', or 'Johan and Peewit' in English. Eventually the cartoonist, Peyo, "introduced a new set of characters" to the strip called " Schtroumpf". They eventually became known as The Smurfs. In honor of the 50th anniversary, European celebrities have designed their own Smurfs, which were auctioned off for Unicef, which is, of course, a very smurfy thing to do.

Also of note is the fact that there is much speculation that the Smurfs were (are?) anti-Semitic communists (just like Obama! Kidding). I can't bring myself to summarize this theory, but you can read more about it here if you are interested.

If you want to show your children what you used to watch, you can get the cartoon on DVD. Or you could just wait for the film, which I hope will never actually get made.

Here's the intro to the cartoon if you don't remember it, never saw it, or just need some smurfs in your day:

For some real silliness, here's the SNL bit, "The Smurfette Show" featuring Anna Nicole Smurf. Verrry smurfy.

And here's some Smurfy video of the smurfy auction. If it doesn't smurfing embed, click here.

Sources: MSNBC, Smurf.com, Wikipedia,Happy Smurf Day, and other smurfy sources

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The Sarah Palin Cabbage Patch Doll? Really?

SunnyChanel — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:58:00 GMT

The Cabbage Patch Kids aren’t kids anymore. They’re all grown up and just turned the ripe old age of twenty-five. And to celebrate, direct from the farm, four very special dolls have been born. In the spirit of the season, you can bid on one of the one-of-a-kind dolls created to resemble Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Each doll was hand-painted and their clothing was hand tailored. The eBay auction starts on Thursday and ends November 4th, with all the proceeds to go to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Oddly creepy, strangely alluring, but hey, it’s for charity so an adoption of a candidate Cabbage Patch Kid goes from goofy and gratuitous to gracious and generous.

Via MSNBC

Salvation Army Says: We'll Take Palin's Clothes!

JeanneSager — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:35:00 GMT

Ever told your kids, "don't say it unless you mean it?" Someone should tell Sarah Palin. Because phone calls to charities have come up with a taker for the $150,000 in campaign clothing purchases.

The Chicago Tribune has been trying to reach the Palin campaign to let them know the Salvation Army office in Anchorage, Alaska is very interested in taking the governor's clothes off her hands when she's done with them. The last time Palin made a donation - an American flag pin and a scarf - they made $150 reselling the items. Imagining what they could rake in to help fill the coffers of the charity had PR Director Jenni Ragland very excited.

"We would most likely use it in one of our fundraisers here in Alaska to help support the work we're doing in the state," she said. Ragland said she'll be making a call to the campaign herself because you can't lose if you don't ask.

Technically it was Palin's running mate, John McCain who said she'd be donating the clothes bought with Republican National Committee monies to a charity. But what's Palin to do? Here's a major charity, right in her own state, that says they could well use the help. She's donated to them before, so she can't say they don't match her values. In fact, the Salvation Army in Anchorage operates an emergency care center for neglected kids and offers services for teens in crisis. How can a mom say no?

Image: DennisZaki.com [via Alaska Report]

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Man Shafts Make-A-Wish Foundation

Amy S.F. Lutz — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:33:00 GMT

I've always thought there were few charities more admirable or more well-intentioned than the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I know in my head that, in the long run, groups that fund research to cure cancer or heart disease will probably have a greater impact over the long run, but what charity can compare to the immediate gratification of seeing a dying child treated like a princess at Disney World?

So what scumbag, you might wonder, would defraud the Make-A-Wish foundation, and disappoint a very sick boy? Douglas Reisberg, 53, of Arizona, was arrested last week after failing to build a go-cart for a 16-year-old boy on kidney dialysis. Reisberg had been given $11,000 by the Illinois chapter of Make-A-Wish last March and has neither delivered the go-cart nor returned the money, despite repeated discussions with the Foundation and with the boy. This con went so far at one point as to tell the boy he was flying in with the go-cart, so the boy was disconnected from his dialysis machine and taken to the airport - where no go-cart ever arrived.

Reisberg has admitted that he lost thousands of dollars in a bad business deal, and used the Make-A-Wish money to cover some of that loss. But couldn't he have ripped off an animal shelter or something???

Just kidding! Of course it's never okay to steal from any charity. We all know the only businesses worthy of being cheated are the big insurance companies.

Help for the Hardest Parenting Nightmare Imaginable

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:33:00 GMT

We're usually pretty big on the bad news around here, what with the news wires crammed with one tragedy or another on a daily basis. But this one, while tragic, thankfully has a silver lining -- and there's something you can do to make it even better.

Whit from Famecrawler wrote up an elegant tribute to Joseph Salmon, a 3-year-old who died of a form of pneumonia. (Gloomy start, I know. It gets better. Trust me.) It turns out his parents and friends are now organizing a charity hike and have formed a charitable organization to help other families pay for funeral expenses after the loss of a child.

As the charitable trust says, the loss of a child is hard enough -- "to have to worry about financial matters is an added burden."

Please check it out. As Whit says, times are tough. But this one is worthwhile.

Attack of the Strippers

Brett Singer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

During a children's golf tournament in Broomfield, Colorado, the children were exposed to -- and I hope you are sitting down as you read this -- strippers. That's right. They actually saw women who dance and take their clothes off while men throw money at them.

Were the women naked? No. Were they -- again, stay seated, this is a bombshell that could shake you to the very core of your being -- scantily clad? Yes, dear reader, they were. Undies. According to CBSNews.com, the children wanted to know why "the men joining the strippers had water guns and why the women wore only their underwear." (That must have been a fun conversation.) Evelyn Koch, the manager of the golf course, apologized for the fact that the "children were present when the strippers arrived."

As you may have guessed, I don't think this is a very big deal. I mean, who cares? The thing about kids and certain things that people have problems with is that oftentimes the kids don't really notice or care. This, methinks, is one of those times. Maybe its because I live in Manhattan, and walk past a strip club every morning when I walk my youngest son to school. Granted, it's early in the morning and there's not any activity going on. But, like, who cares?

For the record, the barely naked ladies were participating in a charity golf outing to benefit a breast cancer organization. The kids weren't raising money for anything. Take that, moral majority!

image: golflogic

No presents for this kid - just donations

Brett Singer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

More nice news – an 11-year-old in Greensboro, North Carolina told her friends not to bring presents to her birthday party. Instead, she asked them to bring canned goods that she will donate to a local food pantry.

This isn't the first time Audrey Mangum decided to forgo gifts in favor of more charitable pursuits. This has been going on for four years. Previous birthdays included items such as teddy bears and toys to be donated to less fortunate families.

Some kids, of course, brought presents, and Audrey was happy about that, proving that she's nice, but not nuts. "That is pretty cool," said Mangum. "They didn't even have to do that."

Cool kid! I have a friend whose daughter did something similar one year, and everyone was pretty charmed by the gesture. Frankly, I think it would be nice if more kids did this sort of thing, but I think the idea needs to come from the child. That is, if you say, "Hey, Toy Boy. How about this year you don't get presents and your friends just bring cans for the food pantry?" you may not get a great reaction. Then again, maybe not every kid is going to think of this on their own, or they might be embarrassed to bring it up for fear of being teased (not to mention not getting any cool gifts.) Has anyone ever done this with their children?

Image/Source: digtriad.com

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Because Pregnant Women Can't Make Mix Tapes

Adrienne Martini — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Disclaimer: I love the March of Dimes. The March of Dimes does great work and is a force for good. This, however, is a silly idea.

So did you know that listening to music while in labor can help make you feel less uncomfortable? Or, as one certified nurse midwife puts it, "“There’s a lot of pain and discomfort that can come before the joy of birth. You should latch onto anything that would provide you some comfort.”

My latch was on an epidural -- but for those women who are stronger than I, music is a recommended alternative to heavy drugs. Fortunately, for the moms-to-be who can't figure out how to burn a CD, you can buy one that is designed to "help women relax during labor" and "to provide music to enjoy with their babies as they grow."

"Soothing music" is recommended for laboring women, so the disc is heavy with Celine Dion and Billy Joel. Personally, these tunes would just make me more anxious and irritable -- but your mileage may vary.

I can't gripe too much since proceeds are going to charity but, still, does this strike anyone else as kind of unnecessary and designed by people whose only exposure to laboring moms has been through their TV?

Saving the World in Junior High

Amy Kuras — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Kids today. Why, when I was Tara Suri's age, I was…well, doing not a whole hell of a lot, actually, compared to what she's accomplished.

When she was 13 years old, Tara went to India with her family. She was profoundly saddened by the poverty she observed, and wanted to do something to help the orphaned children she saw there and the Sudan.

"It was somewhat of a revelation for me," Tara, now 16, told CNN. "It was the first time I recognized the economic disparities and the gender inequalities that were there. And that really touched me and I knew I had to do something about it."

So she began HOPE, for Helping Orphans Pursue Education, which helps kids with housing and other needs so they can go to school.

Since its founding three years ago, Tara has parlayed bake sales and recycling drives into two other charities, Turn Your World Around, which aims to link teens with grassroots projects, and Connect a Kid, which works to improve access to education in developing countries as well as an umbrella organization, Aandolan, which means "movement for change" in Hindi.

Tara's gotten all sorts of well-deserved accolades for her work including being named CosmoGirl! Of the Year 2007 and a "Very Best In Youth" by Nestle (is it wrong that I am irked that the Cosmo award included a makeover? Like, you're totally great and doing amazing things and all, but you'd better put on some eyeshadow, honey).

Damn world-changing, idealisitic kids, making it impossible for me to be cynical….