We asked how your family gives back, and here are your stories of amazing kids who make the Westchester County community better every day.
For the NYMetroParents Caring Kids Awards, we invited you to submit stories and photos of families and kids who do volunteer work to help others. We hope you will be as inspired as we were by these stories of young Westchester residents committed to making the world a better place and helping those in need. These local kids are making a difference in the community every day, and we salute all of them!
Comedy Kids Max and Alex Tell Jokes to Raise Money for Cancer Research
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As Caring Kids Award Recipients, Max and Alex will receive a $500 gift card and a certificate of recognition for their community service. |
When Max’s little sister Scarlett was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he and his friend Alex took action on their own. They began telling jokes to classmates in exchange for donations to pediatric brain cancer research. When fellow students began donating bags of allowance money, the moms helped organize and create Comedy Kids. In one short month, these 8-year-olds brought a community together, raised more than $20,000, and plan to expand their efforts.
Evan & Joshua’s Cocoa Stand for Cancer
Evan and Joshua started a hot cocoa stand for charity when they were at the young ages of 5 and 3. What started out in their garage has now become a yearly enterprise, which has raised more than $30,000, primarily for Pediatric Cancer Foundation. 2017 will mark the 11th year of the event, which is held in a neighborhood store where they serve hot cocoa, baked goods, and raffle items from sports teams and local stores.
Riley, 11, Cares for the Homeless
My daughter Riley has been a Girl Scout since first grade. I am a Girl Scout leader, and recently took some of my Girl Scouts to Lifting Up Westchester. There, we wrapped 189 pairs of socks to give as presents to homeless men, as well as more than 70 toy gifts for children to receive. Riley had a surprise that she pulled out of a bag. She had made more than 20 rainbow loom bracelets on her own ahead of time and brought them. She asked the lady in charge if she could donate them to the children and give them as Christmas presents. The woman gratefully accepted and she promised Riley that she would put them in the goodie bags.
Marcela, 14, Teaches Music to Those Less Fortunate
My daughter Marcela volunteers at Songcatchers, a nonprofit organization that teaches music lessons to children who may not be able to afford high-end lessons.These past few years Marcela learned piano at Songcatchers, and she is now old enough to teach. She is an aide for early childhood piano. She helps teach piano theory and notes, therefore when the children are old enough, they can move up and start learning easily. She also sings in the Songcatchers choir. My daughter spends her Saturdays volunteering. I help out in the office.
Kate, 13, Raises Funds for a Gaga Pit
Kate is raising money to build a gaga pit at the Mamaroneck Avenue School. In conjunction with Back Yard Cares, Kate is building the pit and then will start a gaga club at the school to expose the students to the fun game. Gaga teaches kids strategic thinking, hand-eye coordination, as well as many other skills.
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Carly, 15, Raises Money for Pediatric Cancer
As Carly matured, she was desperate to do more than just “help” her mom prepare fundraisers for Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Her frustration turned into motivation and through PCF’s #GIVEHOPEBAKE she has gathered a committed group of teens to run several events throughout the year. Additionally, she has brought the gift of giving to her high school where PCF has become a club with other community service organizations. She is constantly looking for opportunities to raise money and brighten the lives of these very special children and families.
Chappaqua Families Fighting Hunger
Seven years ago, three Chappaqua families came together to take a stand against childhood hunger and to help inspire local children to make charity a part of their every day lives. Since then, The Great Chappaqua Bake Sale, which supports Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, has raised more than $125,000 to help fund meals programs for kids in New York state. The children (Charlotte, Sophia, Rebecca, Jenna, and Molly) have been instrumental in this effort from the very beginning. In the early years, they made posters and baked with their friends and families. As they grew, so did their involvement and role in the event. They have been instrumental in coming up with new ways to raise money by creating a Kids Corner, which includes a candy-guessing jar, face painter, tattoos, and more. These children promote the event, spread the word, and work the bake sale with enthusiasm and smiles to help children in need.
A Family Helps Animals at the Shelter
Our family has three rescue dogs and is big into helping the community, especially with animals. My son turned 4 years old in February (2016) and said he had enough toys and would like to collect supplies for the animal shelter to help all the dogs and cats who have not found a forever home yet. He was very scared for them that it was so cold and they would not have a warm home. So instead of birthday presents he asked his party guests and family for donations. He was thrilled to collect so many supplies and was more thrilled to bring them to the shelter himself.
Bianca, 8, Gives Back to the Community
Bianca is learning the importance of giving back to her community! She has volunteered her time to clean up our town by picking up litter, planting flowers, and selling cookies that are donated to our troops! She’s also spent her time reading to her pre-kindergarten class on her days off from school.
Melissa, 13, Gives the Gift of Summer Camp
Melissa teamed up with ArtWare for Good and SCOPE to make her bat mitzvah project a reality. She enlisted the help of her friends and family to create a beautiful tile mural that was donated to and hung in a SCOPE-funded camp (Camp Herrlich). Melissa also raised enough money to provide a child less fortunate than herself to have the opportunity to go to camp and ultimately enhance his or her life. Creating this masterpiece and being able to incorporate her love for sleepaway camp, art, and her friends and family was a perfect, charitable way for Melissa to give back and involve others to do something good along with her.
Rebecca and Jenna’s Lemonade Stand for Cancer Research
For the past three years, my daughters Rebecca and Jenna, now ages 12 and 8, have hosted the Blum Sister’s Lemonade Stand in support of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Pediatric Cancer Research. My younger daughter came up with the idea and we quickly went to work to make this idea a reality. Our family got special permission to host the lemonade stand at the Chappaqua Farmers’ Market so that we could get the most foot traffic possible. The farmers’ market asked that we sell freshly squeezed lemonade (instead of from a mix) so that we could keep with the spirit of the market. Each year, we squeeze more than 100 lemons by hand to make 10-15 gallons of lemonade. The girls make signs, ask supermarkets to donate ingredients for our stand, help spread the word throughout the community, and squeeze a lot of lemons. They ask for donations (instead of making a per cup cost). As a result of their hard work, they have raised more than $3,500 for pediatric cancer research.
Katerina, 12, Does Service with the Families with Children from China
My daughter, Katerina, takes commitment to community service very seriously. In the past year she has volunteered at the SPCA in Briarcliff Manor helping when a shipment of dogs was brought in from high-kill shelters, click training, and donating blankets. She has volunteered at the food pantry in Elmsford with her school Rippowam Cisqua. With a group of girls (Club PT) within the Families with Children from China organization, she has collected toys for Open Door in Ossining for Christmas and assisted in gift wrapping. She has collected pajamas for the Katonah Community Center with this same group as well as with her school and made goodie bags of toiletries for distribution.
A Family Offers Meals That Heal
My kids and I wanted to honor their grandparents’ lives as health care professionals by volunteering in the MEALS THAT HEAL program at the Ronald McDonald House. Once a month, we prepare and cook together to make a meal at the facility for the more than 25 resident families who need to take care of a sick child at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.
A Teacher Who Works to Fight Blindness
3s teacher, Wendy Kreisberg, organizes a VisionWalk team every year helping to find a cure for blindness. She teaches kids the importance of helping others and volunteers for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Wendy’s son, Jeremy, has Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease for which there is currently no cure and she does her part to help find treatments and cures for these devastating diseases.
Teaching Service from Day 1
Teaching my son to give back and volunteer was something that I knew I would do from the day he was born. I have taken him to my Operation PROM dress giveaway events and events with the Junior League of Central Westchester. For his 1st birthday, we purchased a playhouse for kids at a local hospital. He doesn’t understand now, but my hope is that when I show him the pictures of the things we did when he was a baby, it will inspire him to continue to be the type of person who makes a difference in others lives.
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