Our wonderful friends at Yesteryear Cyclery are hard at work. Got a bike that is in good shape and want to help a local child have it?
What makes a person spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars every year, re-purposing, repairing and giving hundreds of bicycles away to local children in-need?
Ask Kim Camara of Yesteryear Cyclery why he does it, the next time you see him!
We see thousands of students every year – sometimes we ask one of them to write a story of their experience. Sometimes one of their stories makes us stop what we are doing and listen – really listen.
Today we are listening to Gabriela; you should too!
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Sometimes … kids will be kids and sometimes kids will be philanthropists!
We hosted a terrific group of students this week, from our neighborhood school, The Albert F. Ford Middle School in Acushnet. One hundred-eleven 7th graders. They arrived full of energy and curiosity and left tired, proud and with an enduring understanding of how very lucky they were. Tired from all the work they did. Proud of what they accomplished and with a new sense of their place in the world, of their responsibility to themselves and to help others.
We asked if one of the students would report back to us about their experience. Here is what student Elizabeth Teixeira had to say –
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The Amazing Michelle!
Fourteen year-old Michelle, organized and collected 49 winter coats!
Paige sets a most perfect example
Eight year-old Paige, did something amazing on her birthday.
Her parents held a party and Paige asked her friends to bring a new birthday present for a GiftsToGive child, who would not ordinarily receive a gift on their birthday.
Paige brought us 31 new birthday presents to be given to local children on their special day.
In her “doing” Paige has not only made a huge difference, but has become a most excellent example to her siblings and friends about the power of giving.
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Q: What do you get when you mix nine Berkley Brownies with 500 pounds of gently-used, children’s clothes donations?
A: Enough warm winter clothes, inspected, sorted and organized to help 24 local children receive a great gift package!
Photos from their afternoon are here.
Here is an email we received from their leadership team – ” Thank you so much for allowing our Brownie Girl Scout Troop to come and volunteer at GiftsToGive and showing them that they can be an important part of helping others no matter how old they are. We had such a wonderful experience. The girls, at eight and nine years of age, were saying things like “this was awesome”, “it was a good experience”, and that “it felt good to help”.
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Last Saturday morning we met a most remarkable girl, who did a most amazing thing!
We asked her Mom for details: “Caitlyn is a third grader at Pulaski Elementary School and she recently celebrated her 9th birthday. Caitlyn decided that she wanted to ask her friends to donate toys or clothing to GiftsToGive rather than receive gifts for herself. Through volunteering at Gifts to Give with her family, Caitlyn has realized the importance of giving to others”
Caitlyn says: “There are so many needy children with no special toys. I am lucky to have more than I ever wanted. These children are very brave. I wish that these toys will give them a happy surprise on their birthday!
Last Saturday two representatives of Girl Scout Troop 68123 delivered a ton of hygiene supplies. We were flabbergasted! We never have enough of these type supplies to place in our gifts packages. They’re on a new mission, one of early literacy and they need our help. Please reach out to them if you can help!
We asked their leaders to send us a story, so that we had some context and could share. Here is what they had to say – “The girls in New Bedford Troop #68123 chose to use donated funds they received during their cookie program booth sales to buy baby shampoo, powder, and lotion — based on GiftsToGive stated need for these specific items. They also put together “kits” for adults & children — including shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, combs, and petroleum jelly.
Hadleigh and Braelyn
The longest journey begins with a single step. The first step in this story started with an email from Carolyn, Hadleigh and Braelyn’s mom – “On 1/19 my daughters are turning 8 and 10. I am interested in having them and some friends volunteer at GiftsToGive as part of their party on 1/18. I see stories of kids that had friends bring presents to donate instead of birthday presents for them, could the girls and their guests also volunteer their time?”
Carolyn sent a follow-up email after the girls’ visit – “As parents, we try our best to teach our daughters about being thankful for their blessings and look for opportunities to give back to those in need.”
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Elementary Philanthropist, Galaxy!
Today we met a most perfect grandmother, Jeanne Plourde and one of two young philanthropists; Galaxy.
Galaxy told us that she and her cousin Olivia had two backpacks full of school supplies to donate, for two children that were not as lucky as she and her cousin!
Talk about the power of giving!
We asked grandmother Jeanne to send us a note about how this all happened and here is what she wrote –
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Question: What is better than Girl Scout Cookies?
Answer: Girl Scout Philanthropists!
We hosted our “First Annual Crafts Fair For A Cause” last Sunday. Fifty-five Vendors came to sell their wares, among them was Fairhaven Brownie Troop 65427 and boy did they sell a lot of cookies!
What could be better than that you ask? They collected and donated 153 children’s books for us to re-purpose.
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Pack 32, Marion
Update: Monday, December 2, 2013 The Scouts of Pack 32 in Marion, made a huge difference today!
In November the scouts participated in their soap box derby and used the event to: help help a local family, collect donations for a food pantry and collecting “gently-used” children’s things for GiftsToGive.
This afternoon, after school, Pack 32 in full force – descended on the mill in a literal caravan of vehicles, full of not only scouts, but the treasure they had collected between themselves and other families in Marion.