Who Else Wants to Change a Child’s Life?
Jun/0931
Will You join me in changing the lives of a group of children?
Today I received an email from a good friend that both convicted and inspired me.
Image by Jer Kunz
My friend (Andrea) is a social worker who works in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne and she told a story of a group of refugee children in a local school who between them had a total of 4 books.
Andrea was emailing a small group of her friends to see if we’d consider donating a book or two for these kids.
You can read part of her email below – but as I read it I felt really strongly that I’d like to help – both by personally donating some books but also by utilizing my own network to help meet this need.
If you’d like to help give these kids some books I’d love to collect your donations and pass it on to Andrea who sent me the email below.
If you’d like to make a donation (big or small) do so via the donate button below (or via this link) in the next 7 days. I’ve put a time limit on it to help me manage collecting it all up and sending it off all in one go.
The Need – an Email from Andrea
Here’s the email (I’ve edited it slightly (mainly names) for reasons of privacy):
“This is a story from a family who access a XXXX Primary School. The school services the local high rise estate, and has 85 students, 82 of whom are refugees from the Horn of Africa.
The grade 1/2s were asked to bring in their favourite book from home, three children brought in books.
- one brought a book that had been donated by Readings (a local bookstore), as he had been involved in a program they support that is run by the Brotherhood;
- another brought in a nursery rhymes book with scribble on every page;
- and another brought in an animal encyclopaedia that had only two pages left in it.
- Then the grade 2/3 teacher said that one of her students brought in a book he had received free in his cereal and asked if it could be kept at school because it would get wrecked at home (he has 5 siblings and lives in a housing commission flat).
Lets Help These Kids
I think we can help these kids to have a better choice for their ‘favourite’ book. All kids need books – I can’t believe how many I have at home!”
As I read Andrea’s email my thoughts immediately went to the basket of books that lives in the corner of our livingroom. It’s a basket where 40-50 of my children’s books live. It’s a basket that brings a lot of joy to the lives of my boys and which I can see is helping them to learn about language, literacy, numeracy and life.
My boys have more books than they can read - I felt convicted that these kids that live just a few kilometers from me say their favorite book is something they got from a cereal packet.
Andrea then went on in her email to ask us to consider donating a book so that she could collect them all up and get them into the hands of these kids.
I’d like to go one better than just donating books of my own – I wanted to share this story here via my blog and social media to put the call out to my network.
Andrea wants to send each child in that grade home with 3 new books. I think we can do better and go a long way to doing it for the whole school.
If you’d like to help impact this small school community in this way you can make a donation via this paypal button. I’ll ensure every cent is passed on to Andrea and that those kids get their books.
Pass it On
If you’re not in a position to donate – please consider passing on word of this to your network via your blog, Twitter, other social networking, email or word of mouth. Thanks for those who are already spreading this.
Update
I will periodically be updating this post with the total donated. It won’t be up to the minute but I’ll attempt to keep a fairly up to date total.
So far the total donated is $1320.40 USD – thanks everyone who has donated so far!
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1:10 pm on June 24th, 2009
Sadly, I am flat busted. However, I can still tweet + stumble, so that’s what I’ve done, and hopefully you will get someone who isn’t flat busted to come to this blog. I wish your friend Andrea great luck with her project.
Reading is a MAJOR part of my life and I know I go insane if I go even a few days without a book to read. This is a really great cause so please keep us updated. I’ll be sure to donate once I’ve got some money.
1:18 pm on June 24th, 2009
Thanks for sharing! I’ll tell my boys all the time that ANYbody can make a difference. Often times we think it “has to be big”, but the little things ARE big! Where do we send the books?
I am SO on it! :)
1:19 pm on June 24th, 2009
By the way, chick-fil-a gives out little books w/their kids meals…
1:20 pm on June 24th, 2009
How heartbreaking! Like you, my kids have stacks of books in every room of the house — not to mention numerous trips to the library to supplement their collections. I have triplets who are 6 and just beginning to read themselves. The joy it brings them is obvious with each page turned. A child who reads can disappear into any world — and these children sound like they deserve that chance very much. Like everyone, the economy has me tightening my belt — but I made a small contribution. If everyone donates something small it will add up!
2:00 pm on June 24th, 2009
Darren- You’ve got my push on this! I love my books and have tried to raise my son to love his. We have a bunch of books that he’s outgrown that I would love to donate if there’s a PO Box or mailing address.
I credit you with a lot of the success of my blog. I read your book, followed its instructions and follow your blog and tweets. I plan to post a brief entry on diamondTearz.org in hopes of getting some of my audience to to contribute as well as to propagate the message!
God Bless,
Mani
2:02 pm on June 24th, 2009
Darren – this is an outstanding cause, and one I have been thinking about a lot as i too look at the pile of books in the corners of my kids’ rooms. I have a couple of questions/suggestions:
1) local libraries are an amazing resource – and free. Perhaps a regular school excursion to the library could be arranged
2) I think about the books in my kids’ rooms and i realise many of these books have not been read in weeks/months and would not be missed. Perhaps Andrea’s idea for a book-drive, rather than a funds-drive, would yield some great results. If you publish an address, I’ll send some today…
3) I am sure Andrea’s story is not unique. It’s painful to think about it, but unfortunately I suspect there are many other Australian kids without books. If i saw an initiative in my local book store where i could leave a book to be donated, I’d gladly do so, as would I’m sure thousands of others. And if donations are collected, surely a nice discount could be arranged to make sure every cent goes further.
I’ve just moved back to Aus after being away a while, so perhaps something like this exists. If not, let’s make some noise about this and get some attention from a retailer
2:04 pm on June 24th, 2009
There are four groups of people in this world we should always look after… the helpless… children, the elderly, the severely handicapped and animals. I wish more people used their influence to make a difference like this. I contributed. I hope some others will do so as well.
3:04 pm on June 24th, 2009
Darren,
You bet, on it! :)
-Mig
3:13 pm on June 24th, 2009
Hi Darren,
Here are some free reading resources that people might like to print out for the kids where appropriate.
http://www.adrianbruce.com/reading/games.htm
http://www.adrianbruce.com/reading/posters/index.htm
Hope these help
Adrian
4:17 pm on June 24th, 2009
I think books are more useful than meals. They can keep using the books for a long time. It’s very nice of you to help these kids Darren, good luck!
10:19 pm on June 24th, 2009
Reading is one of the favorite activities for my little one and is such a bonding experience for us both. I can’t give much, as it has to be under the “husband radar” amount, but it should buy a book or 2. Any writers or bloggers out there with contacts at stores, publishers, or toy manufacturers? Maybe they can get donations. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
10:25 pm on June 24th, 2009
This is great, that you are helping her out this way! I know how important reading is- especially in this information age.I will RT the info.
Regards,
Coolwired :-)
11:02 pm on June 24th, 2009
When I’m not blogging I do my other job which gets books into the hands of kids. You might try to locate an independent Usborne book seller in your area. Here in the USA, as an independent Usborne bookseller, I’m able to give 50% grant matching when people donate money to get kids like this books. Usborne may have something similar in Australia. If not, ask them for it!
And I totally agree on the need for kids to have new books, not just ones other people are willing to give away.
I wish you success with your project. Kids need books. My own son is currently reading 2,000 minutes in 20 days to bring books to kids in need.
11:16 pm on June 24th, 2009
Darren, I have plenty of books to donate. Send me an email with the address information with the specifications of books the kids like to read.
Sadly I do not have any money to even chase my dreams (starting a blog network), but I do have enough to help other kids chase their dreams. Or at least be a part of it.
So please send me the mailing info, Darren. I really want to help out.
12:03 am on June 25th, 2009
Darren, you’re being the change you wish to see in the world.
You get today’s first “great idea” shout out — and my donation. It’s in USD, I hope that it can help you do some good.
12:05 am on June 25th, 2009
So glad I can help in some way. This is such a great cause, I value my education greatly and like to help such local causes.
1:02 am on June 25th, 2009
Count me in ! It’s for a good cause :)
1:30 am on June 25th, 2009
I just donated. I can’t imagine growing up without books. When I was a kid, I was always reading. Always. In fact, to this day my mom still tells people stories about how I always had a book with me–if not in my bag, in the back seat of the car. I left books everywhere!
I hope these kids get all the books they need to live an enriched childhood full of the stories we all know and love so much.
jen
2:01 am on June 25th, 2009
Thanks for sharing this. Reading is such an important part of a child’s life. Books open up so many doors. I love reading with my grandkids and am enjoying watching them learn to read to me. I will pass this need on. I posted a link on my Facebook page How You Can Make it Better.-http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=71554888271
3:23 am on June 25th, 2009
That’s a heartbreaking story, Darren, it really caught me unawares.
This is a great cause and I hope you get enough support to make a real difference to these kids.
10:16 am on June 25th, 2009
thanks everyone – really appreciating your donations, tweets, blog posts and words of encouragement – we’re up to $797 so far, great to see people rallying around this worthy cause
10:57 am on June 25th, 2009
Hey Darren,
I have a box of children’s books at home which has been sitting in my room for ages. I’d like to donate them but i’m in Singapore. Is there a way I can freight them over to Andrea or to where the children are? Please email me!~ ^.^
Thanks!! :)
12:01 pm on June 25th, 2009
Nice post. Children are important and it breaks my heart to hear stories like this.
9:35 pm on June 25th, 2009
I have a bunch of books I could donate…as long as they don’t mind the American spellings. :)
10:48 pm on June 25th, 2009
Darren, good on you for publicising this. The ability to read is the key to all learning. I am sure I could gather some books from our local homeschooling families. We are all single income families and don’t have a huge amount of spare cash, but we often have books available. Are you able to email me an address for Andrea?
11:25 pm on June 25th, 2009
This is a fantastic project. I teach remedial reading to first and second graders and some of them have never had a book read to them before they come to school. I, too, have many books that I would love to share as my grandchildren have outgrown them. Please share an address to ship them to.
My goal in life is to instill a love of reading in the children I work with–if you can’t read you are a lost soul.
3:04 am on June 26th, 2009
Hi Darren
I’ve shared with the world!
I’ll also ask around a few corporate contacts (since I live in the ethical world of CSR for a living) to see if they want to help.
Great effort!!
3:23 am on June 26th, 2009
You know, B&N has free shipping right now, and lots of books in the clearance section for a dollar or less. Course I’m not sure if the free shipping would apply to Australia…
Just sharing…
~J~
5:03 am on June 26th, 2009
What a worthy cause. It is always a humbling privilege to be able to help children.
Karen
7:37 am on June 26th, 2009
I’ve just donated and will also promote via my blog. What a great cause. Good on you for being part of helping these kids.
11:33 am on June 30th, 2009
Hey Darren, great job for doing this. I hope my little bit of promoting will help some. It’s encouraging to see so many people pull through with the donations, but let’s see how much more we can get!