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Casa de Esperanza de los Niños—the House of Hope for Children—is a safe place for children in crisis due to abuse, neglect or HIV/AIDS. Casa de Esperanza provides residential, medical and psychological care to meet the individual needs of each child and offers counseling to the family. |
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Casa de Esperanza |
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Fall/Winter 2004 Newsletter
The Power of Kids By Susan Molitor, Casa Volunteer Coordinator Those of you who have spent anytime at all around children know that children like to help. They like to be right there in the middle of things, whether or not you are baking cookies, rearranging the furniture, or trying to have a conversation on the phone. They are always quite sure that they can help. Kids love to get involved and feel that they have accomplished something important – especially if they perceive it as being a typically grown-up activity.
There is very little in the world that is more grown-up You can encourage your children toward a lifetime of charitable giving and community involvement by challenging them to start getting involved now. Children can have a tremendous impact on an agency like Casa de Esperanza, with some encouragement and little organizational help from an adult. A child’s greatest asset is his or her access to other children. Kids don’t need to have a lot of money; their strength is in sheer numbers. Children are always in groups, whether that be in the classroom, or in a sports program, a youth group, scouts, dance, gymnastics, karate, or even just hanging out with friends in the neighborhood. A kid’s power to impact a problem is often felt by taking something small and almost insignificant on its own, like a jar of spaghetti sauce or a package of diaper wipes, and then multiplying it by 25 kids in a class or 300 kids in a school.
One young person with an idea and lots of enthusiasm The possibilities are limited only to the imagination of the child involved. Everything from a general food drive to collect canned and boxed goods, to a specific theme, “Italian Night At Casa de Esperanza,” in which children could collect boxes, jars and cans of pastas and sauces, helps keep the children fed and the doors open. Other non-food themes could include a “Baby Shower” to collect diaper wipes or a “Spring Cleaning” theme to collect laundry detergent or dish washing liquid. Those who live far away may not be able to collect items, but they could challenge another class or group to a “Silver Change Challenge,” or if you want to leave the competition aspect out, you could call it “Change for Children.” Students would ask family members to turn out their pockets or explore the bottom of their purses for any loose silver change and ask them to donate it to charity. This is relatively painless for all involved and generates more money than you might think when one or more classes or even an entire school participates. Any funds collected could be sent in as a general donation to keep the lights on, or specifically designated by the children to pay for anything from diapers to frozen foods. Everyone wins The kids learn that they have the power to affect change, help their peers, and make their parents proud, all at the same time. Parents can take pride in the fact that they are raising children with good hearts who can think beyond their own immediate wants. Best of all, Casa can take the money that would have been spent to pay for food, and use it to help care for one more child. Right now we have a pantry filled with empty shelves just waiting for someone to have a bright idea and make a difference.
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