Raising Philanthropic Children – Page 7

Childrens' Causes March 21, 2016

Circling Back: Junior Ambassadors

I think by now most of you know that I am a huge fan of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Over the years my involvement has expanded to a number of different projects, but one that I am so proud of is the Junior Ambassador Program.

A few years back, when touring the new hospital space, a handful of us began a conversation about the need to get our children involved with supporting the hospital. That conversation was the beginning of Junior Ambassadors Program, a place where children use their talents to help others. Some children sell their artwork or photography. Some students throw parties, our son threw touchdowns for sponsorship and raised thousands of dollars for the hospital, simply using his skills to help another.

A recent catch up with a friend from CHLA, proudly shared how the program has grown from a handful of ambassadors to hundreds and while these ambassadors may come in small packages, their work is mighty.

This year the Junior Ambassador will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Childrens Hospital Los Angels. Children helping children, there is simply nothing better.

Charity Matters.

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Raising Philanthropic Children August 31, 2015

Are you a Global Citizen?

The other day I took our first-born to his new college, yes he is transferring. As a result, I sat through yet another college orientation, my second in 2 weeks. Having now been through three of these events, I found myself fascinated that all of these institutions of higher learning keep speaking of our teenagers as “global citizens.”

Yes, I have known since my first time at Disneyland that, “It’s a Small World After all” but this term, “global citizen,” has become a constant reference at these orientations. It seems to be a new SAT vocabulary word or perhaps something from the new version of the college dictionary? Regardless, the question these great institutions are asking of their students is how will you contribute to the world? Pretty strong stuff for kids that were just at Senior prom a few months ago….just saying.

The question began making me think, what is my answer. How am I contributing to the world? Wow, even halfway through my life with a handful of ideas that is such a big question. Yet, it is an awesome question to ask yourself. Is there something that I have done that makes our world, our universe, our planet a better place? Answer: stay tuned.

I think whats even more exciting is that our children are beginning to ask themselves at such an early age as to how can they use their gifts to make our world better. If that what college is teaching these days, then I think we are on the right path. It is a small world after all.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration August 19, 2015

Millennials

There is much said about the millennials, that generation born between the 80s and the turn of the millennium. Many of the generalizations have to do with young tech obsessed hipster professionals that are self-absorbed and ego-centric. However, a new study from The Case Foundation, says that these generalizations could not be farther from the truth.

The study is entitled, “How Millennials are Changing the Definition of Philanthropy,” says that this generation is among the most generous and committed members of society. Like everything they do they are changing the face of philanthropy. Forty-eight percent of these millennials are using their skills and talents, combined with technology to volunteer.

This philanthropic trend is not only helping this generation with their resumes and experiences, it is also helping non-profits to thrive with fresh and innovative ideas and volunteers. It is easy to size up this bearded, coffee, boba loving generation as self-centered but we all have it wrong. These young hipsters are paving the way for an exciting new chapter in how we as a society share and give our talents to help others. This is as hip as it gets in my world.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes August 10, 2015

A mother’s sendoff

“Mother is her son’s first god; she must teach him the most important lesson of all – how to love.”

T. F. Hodge

This is it. The boxes are packed and tomorrow we leave to send our second son off to college. Many have said these past few weeks, “you have another son or you have done this before, it won’t be that hard.” Well, I am here to say that if I had a hundred children or just three, each time one leaves a piece of my heart is ripped out.

Our second son, is an amazing young man and is ready to fly. He is kind, compassionate, strong, smart, funny, sensitive and determined. He is the kind of person that walks into a room and lights it up with his smile and confidence. This is simply who he is, and has always been.

We are so proud of him and yet saying goodbye is agonizing. My brain knows that he is heading to an amazing school and that he will thrive. My heart however, is breaking. I know that this is a journey thousands of mothers are going through and a right of passage into manhood. The passage from this mother’s view is blurred, as the tears pour down my cheeks and I watch part of my heart walk ahead towards his future.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration July 31, 2015

For Max

As many of you have read here, Max Paige (aka Little Darth Vadar) and his family have become dear friends of Charity Matters. Max was born with a congenital heart defect and over the course of the last 10 years has had 9 surgeries. This week Max will undergo yet another surgery on his heart.

His mother Jennifer said, “When Max was an infant, he had an incredible will to live. At age 4, he asked how much surgery would hurt? At 7, he wanted to know why he needed to go through with this and now at 10 he is keenly aware of time and how precious it is.”

Max and his family have used his celebrity and innate goodness as a platform for so many wonderful causes. He is wise beyond his years and he and his brother are two of the most philanthropic young people I have ever had the privilege of knowing, thanks to their inspiring parents.

This is his theme song for the next leg of his journey and I wanted to share it all with you, in hopes that you can send a prayer or kind thought his way in the next few days and weeks.

Max as always uses his experience to make others lives better, even at the tender age of 10. His hope is that if someone is inspired to do something because of his journey, that they would consider supporting a place that has given him so much and become a second home, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Heart Ambassadors program. Max here is to you and the good fight!

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 20, 2015

The Moral Bucket List

Yesterday, I was asked to speak to the high school volunteers and their parents at our annual Staff Recognition Day. I sadly had procrastinated on what to say and I found myself on Facebook…where I believe most of us procrastinators eventually end up. Before I knew it I found myself reading an article from the New York Times called The Moral Bucket List.

Upon reading it, I knew exactly what to share with our group of extraordinary volunteers and I thought it was worth sharing with you. The article talked about “resume virtues versus eulogy virtues.” It was written by David Brooks, who was more or less in search of enlightenment after finding career success, he began to ask what really mattered? He wondered why do some rare people emanate that light, joy, radiance and others do not.

Brooks goes onto say, “ Our culture and our educational systems spend more time teaching the skills and strategies you need for career success rather than the qualities you need to radiate that sort of inner light. Many of us are clearer on how to build an external career than on how to build inner character”.

The more I read the article, the clearer it became to me that everything he was searching for was in fact exactly the skills that our non-profit teaches to its 5th, 6th and 7th grade students. More than that it was what we ask our high school staff to pass onto their younger mentors.

The author posed three questions:

“What values bring happiness and character?”
“Have you developed deep connections that hold you up in times of challenge and push you toward the good?”
Lastly the author asks, “People on the road to inner light do not find their vocations by asking, what do I want from life? They ask, what is life asking of me? How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world’s deep needs?

I know these seem to be deep questions to ask to teenagers. Yet, as I spoke to them about finding their gifts and sharing them with the world, I looked at an audience of nodding heads. They already understood what “radiating light and joy” was that author was so desperately in search of ……because each of them was already aglow.

Charity Matters.

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Cancer April 8, 2015

Let it Be

Just hearing the words, Let it be I begin to hear the song..speaking words of wisdom, let it be…let it be. Sometimes letting it be is the most difficult thing of all. Those words were the singular wish of a young girl named Karla Rosen who was diagnosed January 7th, 2005 with a rare brain cancer. Her heartfelt desire was to “just be.”

During that year, their community rallied around their family to take care of meals, Karla’s two siblings, yard work, and all of life’s task that shift in the wake of a child’s health. The community support was overwhelming, wrist bands were made and sold to help pay the medical bills. After a year of fighting this horrible disease, Karla Rosen lost her battle with cancer on February 5th, 2006. She was 15 years old.

Her parents, found a letter in her room shortly after her death that said, “I have only known two other people with my condition: one passed away, and one has been struggling for life in the hospital for many months. I now know, because of what I am able to accomplish once again, what miracle God wanted me to pass on – the miracle of life. Thanks to my cancer, I now do not sweat the small things in life and live it to its fullest.”

With the help of the community, within months of Karla’s death, her family decided to celebrate what would have been Karla’s 16th birthday with the creation of the Let it Be Foundation. Their mission is to provide ongoing support and services to families and children diagnosed with life threatening illnesses throughout the child’s treatment, with a focus on the entire family.

The Rosen family has taken their unbearable loss and turned it into a legacy of compassion for others. As the song says, “there will be an answer, let it be…let it be…..”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 6, 2015

Blind Sided

A few years ago when the movie The Blind Side came out, I was told by a number of friends that I reminded them of Sandra Bullock’s character in the movie. At the time I thought it was perhaps because I had overly highlighted my hair, was raising a football player and had once done interior design. While I love Sandra Bullock, that was not who I was being compared to, but rather to Leigh Anne Tuohy, the character she played. I wasn’t sure exactly how to take this comment.

Months later, while speaking with my step sister, who was then promoting The Blind Side, she told me she had just met the Tuohy family from the film. Unaware of the previous comparisons, she said the same thing, however, this time about the actual person, Leigh Anne. She explained that Leigh Anne Tuohy wanted to bring orphans to the Academy Awards to highlight the need for adoption of abandoned children. Needless to say, that didn’t happen….but I secretly loved the idea.

A few years passed and I forgot all about the comparison. Then, last weekend, my oldest son came home for Easter, and brought me a present. He said, he had heard Mr. Tuohy speak at his school, promoting their new book, In a Heartbeat, Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving. My oldest said, as he heard Sean Tuohy describe his wife, it reminded him of me, so he waited in line and brought me this.

I was flattered beyond words and for once was completely blind sided.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 23, 2015

A little love and kindness

This past weekend I attended a party for an East Coast non-profit that is heading to LA, which is an unusual move in the non-profit world. There are so many things that make Project Giving Kids unusual, and by that I mean, out of the ordinary and extraordinary. Most of that comes from the amazing founder, Molly Yuska.

I met Molly a few months back interviewing her for CM and knew instantly that she was extraordinary. Her mission is to teach, expose and connect busy families and children to fun, meaningful and age appropriate service activities. She does that by partnering with local (now LA based) non-profits that vary from Healing the Bay to Food for Free and Gotta Have Sole, just to name a few.

Molly is an uber connector but more than that she is passionate about instilling the values of compassion and kindness in her children and ours. She shared a story Saturday night that said it all. Molly told the crowd that her young children wanted to have a lemonade stand a few weeks back. Molly groaned, as they had just done one.

Molly asked her children, “What would you give the money too?”

Her child’s response was,” I don’t want to charge money, I want to give the lemonade away.”

Molly, ” Why would you have a lemonade stand for free?”

Her daughter’s answer,” To spread love and kindness.”

That is exactly what Molly is doing, spreading love and kindness. Two things that world can never have enough of. So welcome to Los Angeles Project Giving Kids! Thank you for bringing all of us more love and kindness.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration February 2, 2015

Max Page and his Force

As millions of us watched the Super Bowl yesterday and of course those very pricey ads. I thought it might be worth revisiting the one of my favorite philanthropic friends. His name is Max Page and you might remember Max from his starring Super Bowl ad as Darth Vadar, a few years back.

Max has been a patient at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles many times in his short life for multiple heart surgeries. I met Max and his family, a few years ago, as we worked together to launch the Junior Ambassador Program at CHLA . The Page family are some of the most philanthropic people I know, and have used their situation and celebrity to the benefit of others time and time again.

Last week Max revisited his friends on the Today Show but didn’t get to share what he is up to these days. Max continues his acting and his passion for philanthropy, At the wise old age of 10 he is a spokesperson for the non-profit GenerationOn.Org which inspires children and teenagers to get involved in making a difference. Max’s heart may have been defected once upon a time, but today it is his heart and use of the Force that continues to inspire us all.

Charity Matters.

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Education January 23, 2015

Making a Difference

After a long day at work yesterday, I arrived home only to be told by my second born son, that I needed to get back into the car and head to his Senior Service night. Did I mention that it was at 7pm in downtown Los Angeles? Needless to say, I was not happy at the thought and yes I know, service is what I love but back in the car I went…because I also love my son, but boy was I grumpy.

However, not for long. Quickly, my grumpiness faded as I listened to these 17-year old boys sharing their experiences about their various month-long service projects throughout Los Angeles. My sons class of 303 young men practice their school’s motto of being “Men for Others” by spending one month committed to service. Some of the stories shared were about living on Skid Row for the month, working with victims of domestic violence, being at Homeboy Industries with rehabilitating gang members and on and on they went.

What made my grumpiness fade was to see the shift in each of these incredible young men as they learned from doing….the power of serving others. While I was incredibly proud of my son, his month-long commitment to inner city children and their low-income school, I was beyond proud to be a tiny part of an organization that makes a huge difference in our world….and more importantly practices what they preach in raising Men For Others.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration October 22, 2014

Gotta Have Sole

I have the privilege of working with amazing high school students all the time. The story I am about to share with you really hit a chord with me. This summer at the leadership camp I organize, a young girl arrived with shoes that were literally falling apart. We could tell she was embarrassed by her shoes but the reality was she couldn’t run and play games with the sole flapping around. So we used a little shoe goo, some fun colorful duct tape and made her smile and love her overhauled shoes. We saw first hand how much she wanted to fit in and the power of a simple pair of shoes.

An amazing young man, named Nicholas Lowinger, had the same realization as a very young boy visiting a homeless shelter. Nicolas saw first hand children who missed school because they shared shoes with their siblings and it wasn’t their day to wear them, so they couldn’t go to school. So Nicholas began donating shoes and clothing to the shelter but he knew these children needed new shoes that fit correctly.

A few years later, in 2010, when Nicholas had his Bar Mitzvah he used the opportunity to begin the Gotta Have Sole Foundation to donate new footwear to homeless children. Nicholas said, “My goal is to reach as many children living in homeless shelters in the US as I can. It has always been my hope that the children will feel more confident about themselves because they have new shoes to call their own and that they will have the same opportunities afforded to them as their peers.”

Today, four years later Nicholas has donated new footwear to over 10,000 children in homeless shelters in 35 states throughout the United States. Rather than rest on his achievements Nicholas keeps expanding his program. He recently established SOLEdiers to assist disabled and needy veterans and their families, in honor of his WWII Veteran grandfather. This program provides veterans with gift cards to footwear stores so they can select the shoes they need, for their children.

Nicholas Lowinger is truly inspirational. While his peers are out running around in their new sneakers, he continues to expand his mission of providing new shoes to as many homeless children as possible. This inspiring young man elevates the meaning of Gotta Have Sole.

Charity Matters.

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Childrens' Causes October 1, 2014

Project Giving Kids

One of the best things about Charity Matters is that I get to meet amazing and inspiring people who make our world better. Each conversation I have with a non-profit founder never ceases to leave me feeling uplifted and hopeful. Last week’s conversation with Molly Yuska was no exception.

Molly is the founder of Project Giving Kids , a nonprofit which connects busy kids and families to fun, meaningful and age-appropriate service activities. It all began when Molly co-founded a group at her church to connect families with young children to charitable organizations in need. Despite Molly’s graduate degree in Non-Profit Management, the challenge of connecting families to causes was not as simple as she initially thought.

Undeterred, Molly began to envision what a resource like that might look like. The criteria were simple: Fun for kids; reliable and convenient for busy families; and partnered with nonprofit organizations that could really use the compassion and energy of young volunteers.

Molly said,” I wanted to show my family how to give and realized that there wasn’t a resource for young families to begin the conversation of giving.” The result was tireless research and an incredible web-site she created as tool for families who want to start the conversation and process of incorporating service and giving into their lives.

Project Giving Kids started with a color wheel full of causes kids care about, and the belief that kids could be powerful drivers of the entire process. Molly believes that this continues with you and your family. She said,” If I only impact 100 children, imagine their ripple effect in the world? That makes this all worth it.”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes September 29, 2014

Charity Matters Quotes: Degree of giving

“The degree of loving is measured by the degree of giving.”

Edwin Louis Cole

As we close out September, I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on all of the ways we model behavior for others. We rush about our days with lists and calendars but what are we doing on those list that inspires those around us?

I am asked regularly about raising philanthropic children and my best answer is usually to practice what you preach. So as we reflect on this back to school month coming to an end, I ask you….what is on your list that inspires others around you?

My guess is that you have someone who is trying to follow in your footsteps.

Charity Matters.

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