Summertime

Do you remember the Gershwin composition "Summertime" from musical Porgy and Bess?  Those famous lyrics:

Summertime - and the livin' is easy 

But what if the livin isn't easy?  

What if summer brings new layers of stress and worry?   

While many children count down the days until summer vacation, others see summer as a time when the livin' isn't so easy.

At Kids Five & Over we think about the 16 million (1 in 5 ) children who live in poverty and we wonder how their families will be able to afford summer experiences - experiences like swim lessons, day camps, and team sports when both funds and transportation options are limited.  We hear, "Summer is so short" and we wonder if everyone feels that way.  We hear, "Summer days are packed" and we wish every child could have such a rich menu of options filling their summer calendars.  

Summer is an important time in a child's life because it brings new experiences that help flex new muscles.  Summer is a time when new friendships are formed and new talents are unearthed. Summer should be joyful, carefree, enriching and rewarding for all children - not just those whose parents can afford to make it so.

Will you help us spread joy this summer?  Will you help us fund summer experiences for children?

At Kids Five & Over we are actively raising funds to help schools and families fund summer experiences for children.  The list of needs is long - It's really long.  Please help us put a bright spot in a child's summer.  

Donations to Kids Five & Over can be made by clicking here or you can visit our website at KidsFiveAndOver.org.

Thank you for helping us bring the easy back to summer for some very deserving children.

One

One year ago, we came together as a Board for the first time to talk about our vision for Kids Five & Over.  It was, in a way, the day our nonprofit was born.  We sat around the dining room table for nearly three hours and emerged with a skeletal plan, a whole lotta hope, and an undeniable bond that connected us as Board members.  While the experiences that brought us together were unique, our hearts were most definitely one.

In February of 2013, we sent out an email introducing Kids Five & Over to the world.  Ok, not the world, but it felt like it to us.  It takes a leap of faith to announce publicly that you have an idea, you think it's a good one, and you need some money to get it started.  We kept it safe and sent the initial email to our friends.  If nothing else, we knew we could count on their cheerleading.  Imagine our surprise when, eight weeks later, we had raised over $5,000 in private donations!

Social media took hold and our website, blog and Facebook page introduced us to new people who wanted to support our cause.  We received handwritten notes and email messages that said things like, "Your nonprofit is pulling at my heartstrings.  What can I do to help?"  And we quickly learned there were many people who understood, at a profound level, that helping those who can't help themselves - especially children - is an unwritten responsibility we all share.

Today we held our second annual Board Meeting.  We sat around the same dining room table, shared stories of the year gone by, and pooled our collective ideas for the year ahead. Sometimes it's hard to share stories of the kids who have benefited from the support of Kids Five & Over without the perfect storm of emotions.  Their life stories have tangled threads of despair, resilience, loss, and hope.  Hearing their stories causes a juxtaposition of emotions that make the heart and brain feel as if they've been tossed about.  We know we can't fix their whole life, or even the whole world, so we work to positively influence our little corner of the world, one child at a time.

And that is happening - thanks to all of YOU!  Today's year in review told us we've raised nearly thirteen THOUSAND dollars!  And because we were selected last spring as the recipient of a grant from The Pollination Project -- a nonprofit celebrating "ordinary people doing extraordinary things" -- 100% of all donations received by Kids Five & Over for two years will go directly to the kids we serve.  Not even the cost of the postage stamp on a thank you note comes out of the money donated.  How beyond amazing is that?!?

Tonight our hearts are full of gratitude for all those who helped us reach this milestone - the one year anniversary of the birth of an idea.  We are grateful to the people who nominated children for sponsorship and then shared stories and photos of their wide smiles.  We are grateful to the people who donated their hard-earned money and believed we could ignite sparks of joy.  We thank you for believing in us.  We thank you for believing in our kids.  We are excited about the year ahead and where it may take us, and we are especially excited to have you along for the ride.

Kids Five & Over

Someone We All Need to Meet

Have you ever played the game where you make a list of ten people you'd like to meet in your life and then you compare that list with friends?  The point of the game is to spark conversation and reveal something about you others don't know.

The first five names come quickly.  They're usually the names of people who are famous, or rich, or responsible for some kind of remarkable accomplishment.  Many of our close friends probably already know our top five because they've heard us mention their names.  But what about numbers 6-10?

In the Top 10 game, generating the names for numbers 6-10 usually brings reason for pause.  Once the celebrity list is exhausted, we typically begin to look more closely at those people around us.  We say things like, "I'd like to meet my grandfather.  He passed away before I was born" or "I'd like to meet the person who taught my mother how to sew.  It brought her such great joy."

While the top five people on our list often reveal something about us on a surface level, the bottom five people on the list often reveal something about our hearts.  Do we have the list upside down?  We probably do.

All of this is to say, there is someone out there we all need to meet.  Someone whose name should be in the top five or our Top 10 list.  Someone who has the kind of qualities that deserve our admiration -- generosity, selflessness, altruism.  Someone who responds to our Spirit of Giving campaign with this:

Our Spirit of Giving campaign, shared in a previous post, provides all KF0 sponsored children with a $20 gift card to be used on a random act of kindness from their own heart. The goal is to help grow a new generation of children who learn that giving to others is an important part of a person's responsibility.

This someone we need to meet --  The someone who sent the handful of $20 bills in the mail -- We have no idea who it is.  Look at the photo again.  No name.  The envelope?  No return address.  The postmark?  Not a from a neighboring town.

Who is this person?  What is their story?  What experiences did they have that helped shape them?

We will probably never know, but this much we do know.  Their random act of kindness touched our hearts in a profound way and reminded us that the untold story of a person's life is often the greatest story of all. 

For our anonymous friend whose heart is pure, thank you for your generous deed.  The ripple effect of kindness reaches farther than you can imagine.  We will think about what you did and what it means to us and our KF0 kids for a very long time.  We will carve out a new corner in our hearts and find ways to pay your good deed forward.

The response to our 'Tis the Season, Spirit of Giving campaign has been extraordinary.  We've raised enough money, in $20 increments, to provide ALL our KF0 sponsored children with funds for their random acts of kindness.  In fact, the response to our campaign has been so great that we have decided to continue it year 'round.  Going forward, all future children sponsored by Kids Five & Over will be provided with funds for a random act of kindness -- a pay-it-forward deed -- to help teach them that doing something for someone else is an important part of living a good life.

Thank you to all who dug deep into their pockets, gathered their spare change, and used the opportunity to show their own kids the importance of giving.

The final destination of your donation in is the hands of our youth and we know they will make you proud.

'Tis the Season

As we enter our first holiday season as a nonprofit, we are so very grateful for how young lives have been enhanced through your generous donations.  We could not have imagined in the short span of nine months that we'd grow from the spark of an idea to the tangible reality of children being connected to opportunities in the community. And, as we had hoped, we've seen a ripple effect of good deeds that range from local agencies rallying around a cause, to guardian angels taking care of the unique needs of a family of five.

In this public blog, we hold back on the details of those stories - always walking that delicate line between sharing the magic we see every day and letting young lives have their privacy. It is nearly always the case that great acts of kindness are sparked by stories of great need.   Because of this, when we write about children who have been given the opportunity to stand on a ski slope for the first time in their lives, we will share their excitement ("I can't believe this is happening to me!  I never thought I'd be able to learn how to ski!") but we won't share their full story without their permission.  Their stories go much deeper than skis and ski boots.  Not having the chance to learn how to ski is almost never about the logistics of a ski trip.

It's hard to explain the rewards that come from helping others because it's something that starts as a thought in the confines of the brain and then lands directly in the heart.  Remember the Christmas story of the Grinch who decided to return the gifts he'd taken from the Whos in Whoville?  The story says his small heart grew three sizes that day.  Imagine how much it would have grown if he'd actually purchased those gifts himself?

There will be many ways we can help others this holiday season and we hope your big hearts will find the opportunities that feel right to you.  At Kids Five & Over, we are putting a spin on the traditional Spirit of Giving campaign.  Instead of asking for funds that will support our organization, we are asking if you can help us to help our KF0 kids in THEIR spirit of giving.  Beginning December 1st, we'd like to provide each KFO sponsored child with a $20 gift card to be used on a random act of kindness from their own heart.  They may choose to buy food for the food pantry, visit the Giving Tree at Walmart to get a gift for a child in need, donate their money to a Relief Fund, or drop it in the Salvation Army bucket outside their local grocery store.  Whatever will fill their heart - grow their heart - is what they should do.

We are proud of our KF0 kids for their gratitude and kind thoughts about what KF0 funds have meant to them, but we believe deeply in the concept of paying it forward.  While we help our KF0 children find their niche in life, we also want them to know what it feels like to help someone else.  That's a tall order for children in financial situations that are out of their control.

Will you help us grow a new generation of children who learn that giving to others is an important part of a person's responsibility and that even when things are tough, finding ways to pay it forward can soothe a wounded heart?

Donations can be made on our website www.KidsFiveAndOver.org.  On the final check-out page, you can include a note that indicates the funds should be earmarked for the Spirit of Giving.  If you'd rather mail a donation, our mailing address is:  P. O. Box 4746 Portsmouth, NH 03802.  We will include in our thank you note to you, a list of how those funds were used.

Thank you for helping us as we help our kids grow their hearts.

Unveiling Our Logo

Lori Decato Metz, owner and creative genius at Idea Outfitters, donated her time and talent to create a logo for Kids Five & Over.  Have you seen it?  We love it!

We are honored to have this original piece of art as a signature for our nonprofit.  As an artist, Lori designs posters, tickets, signs, logos, press material and catalogs for local restaurants, businesses and nonprofits.  Among other things, her work with Share Our Strength https://www.nokidhungry.org/ brings a long list of good deeds sprinkled with a unique kind of patience and compassion that has been described as "sheer awesomeness."  

We are grateful to Lori for her random act of kindness and for taking time out of her busy schedule with competing deadlines to focus on a project that fills a heart instead of a wallet. 

Need a graphic artist for a project of your own?  Put Lori's number on speed dial.  You'll be glad you did!

ideaoutfitters.com

603-430-2110

We're On The Same Page

Last week a friend sent us a link to Cheryl Richardson's newsletter along with a message that said, "This week's entry reminds me of your nonprofit."  So, naturally we had to take a look. 

Cheryl Richardson is a New York Times bestselling author with both TV and radio presence.  She believes in providing helpful information that supports people in living a life that honors their soul.  She believes we are all connected and that "our individual actions affect a greater whole."  Her website is www.cherylrichardson.com.

Cheryl also writes a weekly newsletter.  Her week 29 entry is titled: How to Get That 'Big Break' You've Been Waiting For.  You can find the link here www.cherylrichardson.com/newsletters/week-29-how-to-get-that-big-break-youve-been-waiting-for.  Please read it.  In just a few paragraphs she captures the spirit and soul of Kids Five and Over.  The thoughts are her own, but we are clearly on the same page.

Some excerpts:
"...most artists – painters, dancers, writers, musicians, designers, etc. – would tell you that their big break came well before they were able to share their creativity with others.  It came as a result of someone’s willingness to help facilitate the expression of his or her innate talents."

"You never know what might happen when you give a kid a chance..." 

We wholeheartedly agree.  What we have witnessed in our short time of supporting the talents of young children has been awe-inspiring.  We've learned that children feel in sync when they are immersed in their passions.  We've learned that real-life troubles magically melt away, even if only temporarily, when children are provided opportunities to be who they are meant to be.  We've also learned that people who lend financial support to give children a chance have some of the biggest hearts around.

Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing your message with such clarity and grace and for reminding us that creative dreams matter.

I Can Be Whatever I Want to Be

Cinderella sang it.

She believed it with her whole heart.

At Kids Five and Over, we believe it too. 

Imagine this:  A 10-year-old girl dreams of being a gymnast.  She uses the small space in front of her bedroom mirror to practice handstands and backbends, and she choreographs short routines for the make-believe audience that surrounds her.  She throws her hands proudly in the air when her routine ends and acknowledges the judges who critique her every move.  She steps off the imaginary mat and waits nervously for her score. 

And then it happens...10!  A perfect score!  10!  The crowd roars!  10!  She wins GOLD!

***

Imagine this:  A 10-year-old girl dreams of being a gymnast.  There's barely enough money in the house for food, never mind gymnastic lessons.  The clothing allowance needs to be spent on shoes, not leotards.  Gymnastic lessons are out of the question.  She never even asks.  Dream crushed.

***

Same story.  Same girl.  One is dreaming in the way all 10-year-olds should dream.  The other is struck with the heavy reality of life.

We met that girl this week - the girl who dreams and the girl whose dreams were crushed.  We met her at a gymnastic studio.  She was nominated for support from Kids Five and Over and because we have Board members living near the Studio, we were able to see firsthand what it looks like when a little girl wears her first leotard and step onto the mat for a lesson.

It was pure joy.

What a thrill to witness what Kids Five and Over is doing for children like the one mentioned above.  For less than $175, we were able to give her gymnastic lessons all summer long - every day if she wants - and three sparkly leotards of her very own.

And then came the chain reaction -  From there we saw a kind-hearted Mom step in to make sure that little girl had a pretty bag for her clothes and a handful of hair ties for her hair.  Watching the kindness continue beyond the support of Kids Five and Over was rewarding on a whole different level.

Our 10-year-old felt like Cinderella that day.  Her tired gym shorts turned into a red leotard with sequin hearts and peace signs.  The plastic grocery bag that carried her clothes turned into a pink and white striped gym bag.  The rubber band that held her ponytail turned into fancy black hair tie.

And at midnight, it all still belonged to her.

Our mission is so important.  We can't stress that enough.  There are children who need opportunities to explore the wonderful possibilities that life has to offer; Children who deserve to dream big and have their dreams come true.  It's not about hair ties and leotards, it's about having a dream and knowing deep in your heart that someone, somehow will help you reach it.

Write to us at KidsFiveAndOver@gmail.com if you know a child with a dream, and let us know how we can help.

Visit our website at KidsFiveAndOver.org if you want to help sponsor a child.

Happily ever after doesn't always have to start with Once upon a time. 

Happily ever after starts with all of us.