My first Random Acts Of Zhu project was with Blessings In A Backpack at Spring Hill Elementary School. I was blessed in return with smiles of joy, hugs and the looks of surprise from the students I met.
What is Random Acts of Zhu?
The makers of Zhu Zhu Pets and Kung Zhu, Cepia, LLC, chose 100 bloggers to donate 104 Zhu Zhu Pets to local non-profits that provide toys to needy children.
The Smiles
I went to Spring Hill Elementary School yesterday and met up with “super volunteer”, Maureen Follansbee, who gives of her time to both the school and other organizations. Along with Maureen, there were four students (2 sets of siblings) who were going to be given toys they didn’t expect and one of the Guidance Counselors who also helped out. If I could bottle the look on their faces, I would carry them with me to brighten my dreary days! The thing that really touched my heart is that they didn’t push to get their toys and were even shy to chose which ones they wanted. In fact they were happy to get what ever pet was given to them.
Smiles And Love
Is It Real?
Thank You
My Local Charity
Blessings In A Backpack provides food to students who receive free or reduced lunch each Friday. This helps provide them with nourishment over the weekend so they can return to school ready to learn. A guidance counselor, nurse, teacher, or other caring person in the community adopts a school and takes on the responsibility of coordinating the process and fundraising. In my area, the non-profit organization People Helping People in Hernando County has taken on this task. 50 children receive backpacks in my county and I’m sure that many more can use the help.
Blessings In A Backpack
What You Can Do
The school I visited, Spring Hill Elementary, is a Title 1 school, which means that at least 40% of students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. In other words, at least 40% of the students are low-income. If 50 children in the county are enrolled in Blessings In A Backpack, that shows the need for more help. You can donate money, items, solicit donations or volunteer your time with People Helping People in Hernando County.
Blessings In A Backpack, a national non-profit also needs monetary donations, backpacks, food and volunteers. You can also adopt a school in your own community, or contact the program already in progress and see how you can help. You don’t need to have a lot of money or a lot of time, just do what you can.
Thank You
Thank you to Cephia LLC for the opportunity to take part in Random Acts of Zhu and for the Zhu Zhu pets that I was able to donate. This is just part one, which has helped me feel the real spirit of the holidays – giving.
Aww! Those kids break my heart. I’m an education major in college and hope that I will be able to help my students like this when I begin teaching. Thank you for the link to Blessing in a Backpack. I’m going to try to save it and look at it again whenever I begin teaching.
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Twitter: blm03
says:
I love that you were able to donate these to kids who really appreciated it.
What a great way to give back! The kid’s faces are priceless.
Oh my! Blessings in a Backpack sounds amazing! I wonder if we have anything like that around here… I live in a small community that houses not one, but 2 elementary schools and one of them is much poorer than the other.
Thanks for opening my eyes to this!
What a beautiful story! That is what volunteering and giving is all about. You made a difference, but I am sure you already know that!
Crystal & Co. recently posted..Weekly Meal Plan 61
How awesome was that! Growing up on the free/reduced lunch plan I know what Blessing in a Backpack can mean to a kid. I’m looking into seeing if any schools near me participate. Thank you!
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I was happy to learn about Blessings In A Backpack as well Lindsay. It’s an amazing non-profit.
Lisa, to be able to donate in person was so touching.
Aren’t they Cindy? I wish I had taken a video of the whole thing, but then I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.
It’s easy to find out if you have a Blessings In A Backpack in your area Kelli. Just go to their website and check it out. I’m going to work with the group that is sponsoring them here to promote it more on my blog.
Thank you so much Crystal! I took a long time deciding which non-profit to donate to. I ended up with 2 and it was worth the time.
Shanaka, my older daughter was on free lunch while I was a single mom so this cause is near and dear to my heart as well.