One day last week, a facebook friend of mine posted a link to the saddest story I have ever read; it's a specific story about what's been happening in Japan, about kids who have lost their parents, and I just cried. We've been following the news and seeing the devastation just like everybody else has been, and the kids & I had talked about what we could do to help. After the terrible earthquake in Haiti our family assembled & shipped off several hygiene kits, but every time I check the Church's website to see what is needed for Japan, they just suggest donating money to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund. They are providing money, blankets, camp stoves, food, and countless other supplies (just as they do when other natural disasters occur around the world).
I thought that rather than just write a check, and ask the kids if they want to contribute a couple dollars from their piggy banks, we should make it a project. So we had a bake sale (because, really, I am always looking for an excuse to bake).
We were out there at about 8:15 Saturday morning and the kids were excited!I made brownie pops (which were super cute but a real pain to make), rocky road brownies, and chocolate chip cookies with m'n'ms on top for added cuteness. We'd sold a few things before I remembered to take a picture; both trays were completely full when we started (a total of 64 items for sale).
I made a few signs; some we had stuck in the ground in strategic places but the kids also had fun holding them out and waving to passing cars. Here's the excitement of an approaching car...
During the first hour or so, the kids got a little discouraged as we had only 2 customers and at least 20 passing cars (who didn't stop) -- just through our neighborhood; we weren't camped out by the major road. I had hoped for more "garage sale traffic" but unfortunately it wasn't a busy garage sale day in our neighborhood. Business picked up considerably as the morning went on and more of our neighbors were up and around (and after I sent a text to several friends - who really came through; thanks!!)
The last 45 minutes or so, we moved closer to the big street in hopes of quickly selling the rest of our goodies.
The kids got a little tired of it and eventually they all started playing around with the streamers (Lucy, below),
but Molly was a real trooper and stuck it out til the end! We sold our last cookies at about 10:40am.
The best part was that thanks to the generosity of our customers, we earned $98.50, all of which we put right into an envelope for LDS Humanitarian Aid and turned in on Sunday. It's nice knowing that 100% of money donated there goes towards helping people in need. This was a really fun project, totally worth staying up til 1:45am Friday night to finish the brownie pops and waking up at 6:45am Saturday to paint the signs! It was great to be able to do something useful that the kids could be involved in too.
I made a few signs; some we had stuck in the ground in strategic places but the kids also had fun holding them out and waving to passing cars. Here's the excitement of an approaching car...
During the first hour or so, the kids got a little discouraged as we had only 2 customers and at least 20 passing cars (who didn't stop) -- just through our neighborhood; we weren't camped out by the major road. I had hoped for more "garage sale traffic" but unfortunately it wasn't a busy garage sale day in our neighborhood. Business picked up considerably as the morning went on and more of our neighbors were up and around (and after I sent a text to several friends - who really came through; thanks!!)The last 45 minutes or so, we moved closer to the big street in hopes of quickly selling the rest of our goodies.
The kids got a little tired of it and eventually they all started playing around with the streamers (Lucy, below),
but Molly was a real trooper and stuck it out til the end! We sold our last cookies at about 10:40am.
The best part was that thanks to the generosity of our customers, we earned $98.50, all of which we put right into an envelope for LDS Humanitarian Aid and turned in on Sunday. It's nice knowing that 100% of money donated there goes towards helping people in need. This was a really fun project, totally worth staying up til 1:45am Friday night to finish the brownie pops and waking up at 6:45am Saturday to paint the signs! It was great to be able to do something useful that the kids could be involved in too. This just in: some friends of ours are having their own Japan-benefit bake sale this Saturday too; hooray! If anyone else (local) wants to do one this Saturday, I will bake some cookies to help contribute!
3 comments:
Sara, that is so awesome! I'm not going to click that link about the children in Japan until I get a good quite hour by myself (when my kids are napping or something) because I know, I too, will bawl. Your kids are such great kids. And, great job and helping them learn charity!
You really are so great. I am crying just reading this post. Man, I'm such a big baby. I need to teach my kids some lessons in charity too. I may just have to do this same thing....
Thanks for being "the good example."
:)
This is such a great idea, and a tremendous lesson to teach to your children.
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