Kids give back to the community in a different way
Vegging at the Shore
By Marci Lutsky
In years past, June has signified the kickoff of one of the most enriching and powerful programs for children at the Jersey Shore and in different parts of the country. As the summer approached this year Laura Dulac, President and Founder of Our Children Making Change, faced some serious decisions about the program. Would it be possible to run a modified program in which kids performed chores to raise money for local non-profits? After consulting with her team leaders and much deliberation, she made an important decision that the program would indeed continue this summer, but look very differently to adjust to unprecedented times.
Typically participants in Our Children Making Change help select several local non-profits to fundraise for and over the course of the summer, are asked to each raise $100 for those organizations. For many reasons, it seemed like that would be unreasonable to ask of kids right now. Instead, this summer kids are being asked to perform twelve acts of kindness, with twelve signifying the number of years the program has been operating.
The kickoff to the program took place on Saturday, June 13th with drive-by visits to several nursing homes in Galloway to thank healthcare workers for their tireless work and to bring smiles to the faces of residents. Kids were asked to decorate their cars in addition to making cards and baked goods for the staff. At 9:45 am, over 50 cars lined up at Stockton University and then proceeded to drive by nursing homes. There was so much gratitude from the staff and residents for creating an aura of love and appreciation.
Any parent of young children can tell you how the past few months of canceled in-person learning and activities has impacted their lives. With many summer plans canceled or modified, it’s important for kids to feel a sense of connection to the community by helping others. For the rest of the summer kids will be asked to keep up momentum from the kickoff by spreading goodness. Other suggested acts of kindness are to make a card for someone, bake and deliver cookies, offer to dog walk, do yard work for a neighbor, make and donate masks, make and donate no-sew blankets, make jewelry or crafts for a nursing home, spotlight a local hero, leave notes or painted rocks with messages around town, make a phone call to someone living alone, share some smiles on a Zoom call and make birthday or activity bags for pediatric wards or food banks.
Every summer I marvel at the impact of the kids’ philanthropic ventures. I’m grateful that the show must go on this summer and that our kids are still engaged in civic responsibility. The world needs goodness right now and who better to spread that goodness than kids? To learn more about Our Children Making Change, visit http://www.ourchildrenmakingchange.org.
Marci Lutsky is a local mom of nine year-old twins and can be reached at veggingattheshore@gmail.com.
