Today was the Race for the Cure! I walked with my mom and with Gail Janowitz, a two time breast cancer survivor and the person who told us about the walk.
There were tons and tons of people at the walk, many wearing tags with the names of loved ones who had breast cancer. For as far as I could see there were people in the pink and white shirts walking for the Cure. It was an amazing sight.
Thank you to all of my sponsors; you are awesome, I couldn't believe how many people, friends, neighbors, relatives, donated to this important cause. We raised a total of more than five hundred dollars!!!
Grading:
Efficiency: 9
Easiness: 9*
Fun: 10
This was a really fun event and afterwards my mom was exhausted and I went on to play three hours of softball and we all enjoyed the free applesauce, juice, gift bag, and fruit roll up.
*For people who can't make the race or aren't up for a three mile walk or run, there is the option of sleeping for the Cure which would probably get a 10 in easiness. If you can make the race and walk or run three miles , I highly recommend doing the race because it is such a great experience and it helps to show how much this cause means to people.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Race for the Cure
The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is a 5 kilometer run or walk to raise money for breast cancer research. I have never done a Race for the Cure before, but I am signed up for one on September 13 in Central park.The sign up for individuals goes until 12:00 of the 12th, and for people who can't make it or don't want to do the distance there are options of Sleeping for the Cure or being a sponsorer of a participant.
About 1 in 8 women get breast cancer, making it a fairly common form of cancer. 1 of 3 women's cancer cases are breast cancer and thousands die from it each year. Many people are touched by breast cancer, and I learned that my middle name is for my aunt who died from breast cancer. These races are a huge part of raising money and awareness about breast cancer. The group doing this race has raised more than a billion dollars for research toward finding the cure. Every racer, walker, sleeper, and sponserer is helping to fund this research that will one day save lives.
The website for Susan G. Komen for the Cure is http://ww5.komen.org/. This website tells all about breast cancer, how to get involved, how to donate, and more. I suggest checing it out if you're interested.
The website for the New York race on September 13 is http://www.komennyc.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=1170. This is where you can sign up for the run, walk, or sleep, or can sponsor someone. There is a fee to sign up, but for sponsoring, any amount is welcome. The site also answers questions and has details on the race.
About 1 in 8 women get breast cancer, making it a fairly common form of cancer. 1 of 3 women's cancer cases are breast cancer and thousands die from it each year. Many people are touched by breast cancer, and I learned that my middle name is for my aunt who died from breast cancer. These races are a huge part of raising money and awareness about breast cancer. The group doing this race has raised more than a billion dollars for research toward finding the cure. Every racer, walker, sleeper, and sponserer is helping to fund this research that will one day save lives.
The website for Susan G. Komen for the Cure is http://ww5.komen.org/. This website tells all about breast cancer, how to get involved, how to donate, and more. I suggest checing it out if you're interested.
The website for the New York race on September 13 is http://www.komennyc.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=1170. This is where you can sign up for the run, walk, or sleep, or can sponsor someone. There is a fee to sign up, but for sponsoring, any amount is welcome. The site also answers questions and has details on the race.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Guitar Recitals
One way my friends and I have done community service at a local senior center is holding all of our guitar recitals at the senior center. Before I had done recitals that were just for parents and relatives. That was fun, but I have always found more fun to play for a real audience.
The senior center we play for loves having us, and we have a great time playing for them. They are a very good audience and are really happy to have us. We do recitals every few months and for 3 years they have all been held at the senior center.
Another good thing about performing for the senior centers is that, since we are playing for people we don't know, we have to work our hardest. After the recitals we always love hearing the seniors' thoughts and compliments. It's a really rewarding thing to do.
Grading:
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 7
Fun: 10
The senior center we play for loves having us, and we have a great time playing for them. They are a very good audience and are really happy to have us. We do recitals every few months and for 3 years they have all been held at the senior center.
Another good thing about performing for the senior centers is that, since we are playing for people we don't know, we have to work our hardest. After the recitals we always love hearing the seniors' thoughts and compliments. It's a really rewarding thing to do.
Grading:
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 7
Fun: 10
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Dorot
Dorot is an organization that works to help the home-bound elderly. My mom and I found out about Dorot through the Children for Children Martin Luther King Day event. Since then we have been working to help Dorot by writing birthday cards for them to send to homebound seniors, making holiday visits to seniors, and doing a fun, interactive cooking event with some of the seniors.
Dorot makes it easy to help out with the simplest project being writing birthday cards to the home-bound elderly. This is a project that we love to do not only because it's fast, but because it makes the seniors so happy. This year on my birthday, my friends and I made a bunch of cards to bring to Dorot. They are located a few blocks away from our school, so the project was very easy to do.
Visiting home-bound elderly people on holidays is another project that is great because of how happy it makes the seniors. Many of the people helped by Dorot don't have family to visit them over the holidays, so it really brightens their day to get a visit and a holiday package from someone who cares. The people who we have met have loved telling stories, and they are very interesting to listen to. It is a really fun project that I highly recommend.
The other project my family has done for Dorot is a cooking project with the seniors. The project was one of Dorot's afterschool projects for kids and seniors. These projects include both cooking and art projects for various ages. In the project we did, kids and seniors worked together to cook a mud cake (a combination of chocolate pudding and a bunch of other delicious ingredients which I can't remember). We were split up into groups with some seniors and some kids in each, and all worked together to make (and eat) the cake. It was a fun project for kids and seniors alike.
Grading: Birthday Cards
Efficiency: 9
Easiness: 10
Fun: 8
Holiday Visits
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 6
Fun: 10
Cooking Projects
The cooking projects and art projects with Dorot have different age groups, so before doing one, make sure that you are the right age for the project. The website is listed below.
Efficiency: 8
Easiness: 7
Fun: 9
Note: Dorot is in a convenient location for people on the Upper West Side, but there are other organizations that do similar things. Dorot is also an organization that is mainly Jewish, so the holiday projects are on Jewish holidays.
Another organization that helps the homebound elderly is City Meals on Wheels. They have a holiday cards project that is very similar to Dorot's birthday card project. Their website is http://www.citymeals.org/.
Dorot's website is http://www.dorotusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage_DOROT.
Dorot makes it easy to help out with the simplest project being writing birthday cards to the home-bound elderly. This is a project that we love to do not only because it's fast, but because it makes the seniors so happy. This year on my birthday, my friends and I made a bunch of cards to bring to Dorot. They are located a few blocks away from our school, so the project was very easy to do.
Visiting home-bound elderly people on holidays is another project that is great because of how happy it makes the seniors. Many of the people helped by Dorot don't have family to visit them over the holidays, so it really brightens their day to get a visit and a holiday package from someone who cares. The people who we have met have loved telling stories, and they are very interesting to listen to. It is a really fun project that I highly recommend.
The other project my family has done for Dorot is a cooking project with the seniors. The project was one of Dorot's afterschool projects for kids and seniors. These projects include both cooking and art projects for various ages. In the project we did, kids and seniors worked together to cook a mud cake (a combination of chocolate pudding and a bunch of other delicious ingredients which I can't remember). We were split up into groups with some seniors and some kids in each, and all worked together to make (and eat) the cake. It was a fun project for kids and seniors alike.
Grading: Birthday Cards
Efficiency: 9
Easiness: 10
Fun: 8
Holiday Visits
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 6
Fun: 10
Cooking Projects
The cooking projects and art projects with Dorot have different age groups, so before doing one, make sure that you are the right age for the project. The website is listed below.
Efficiency: 8
Easiness: 7
Fun: 9
Note: Dorot is in a convenient location for people on the Upper West Side, but there are other organizations that do similar things. Dorot is also an organization that is mainly Jewish, so the holiday projects are on Jewish holidays.
Another organization that helps the homebound elderly is City Meals on Wheels. They have a holiday cards project that is very similar to Dorot's birthday card project. Their website is http://www.citymeals.org/.
Dorot's website is http://www.dorotusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage_DOROT.
Friday, August 21, 2009
ASPCA
This post is about two separate projects that I have been working on with friends to help the ASPCA. The ASPCA, American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is an organization that works to help fight animal cruelty and runs shelters for homeless animals. Out of the two projects we have done for the ASPCA, one is very simple and the other could have been simpler but was not for us.
The first of the projects helps the ASPCA in raising awareness about animal cruelty and getting people interested in their cause. It is very easy and takes up very little time. All you have to do in this project is add your name on their pledge to fight animal cruelty on their website, http://www.aspca.org/. The goal is to get 1 million signatures from people interested in helping them end animal cruelty. By pledging you are making a promise to "Learn to Recognize Animal Cruelty", "Report Animal Cruelty", "Set a Good Example for Others", "Fight for the Passage of Anti-Cruelty Laws by Joining the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade". You are also promising to support the ASPCA and try to help them fight animal cruelty.
*they are not asking for money
The other project, collecting tennis balls for the ASPCA's dog shelter was much harder than any of us expected. We thought it would be nice to go to the tennis courts to get some used tennis balls for the shelter dogs to play with. My friend and I had started the tennis ball project thinking that it would not be too hard to do. Under different circumstances we may have been right, but the location of the tennis courts was difficult to get to and they did not have as many tennis balls at the time when we came than they sometimes do. It would be a great project for someone who lives near the shelter or tennis ball court, and the best time to go was in the morning.
Although it was tough, we collected 45 tennis balls to donate to the animal shelter. I think that giving the shelter 45 tennis balls will make many dogs happy and is a significant donation. The tennis balls have not been donated yet due to the difficulty in getting to the shelter. We hope to make it to the shelter tommorow to donate the tennis balls.
Doing the project was hard, but I learned a valuble lesson on planning future community service projects. I learned that I need to make sure that what I am doing will be worth the work and that sometimes it is best to keep it simple. If you do live near either a dog shelter or tennis court, this project would not be half as difficult. Another donation that dog shelters appreciate is old towels and sheets for the dogs to use as beds. Those can be easier to collect than tennis balls and they are always needed at shelters.
Grading: The projects today will be listed separately, as the pledging project and the tennis ball collection.
Pledging Project
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 10
Fun: 9
Tennis Ball Collection
Efficiency: 6
Easiness: 4
Fun: 7
The first of the projects helps the ASPCA in raising awareness about animal cruelty and getting people interested in their cause. It is very easy and takes up very little time. All you have to do in this project is add your name on their pledge to fight animal cruelty on their website, http://www.aspca.org/. The goal is to get 1 million signatures from people interested in helping them end animal cruelty. By pledging you are making a promise to "Learn to Recognize Animal Cruelty", "Report Animal Cruelty", "Set a Good Example for Others", "Fight for the Passage of Anti-Cruelty Laws by Joining the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade". You are also promising to support the ASPCA and try to help them fight animal cruelty.
*they are not asking for money
The other project, collecting tennis balls for the ASPCA's dog shelter was much harder than any of us expected. We thought it would be nice to go to the tennis courts to get some used tennis balls for the shelter dogs to play with. My friend and I had started the tennis ball project thinking that it would not be too hard to do. Under different circumstances we may have been right, but the location of the tennis courts was difficult to get to and they did not have as many tennis balls at the time when we came than they sometimes do. It would be a great project for someone who lives near the shelter or tennis ball court, and the best time to go was in the morning.
Although it was tough, we collected 45 tennis balls to donate to the animal shelter. I think that giving the shelter 45 tennis balls will make many dogs happy and is a significant donation. The tennis balls have not been donated yet due to the difficulty in getting to the shelter. We hope to make it to the shelter tommorow to donate the tennis balls.
Doing the project was hard, but I learned a valuble lesson on planning future community service projects. I learned that I need to make sure that what I am doing will be worth the work and that sometimes it is best to keep it simple. If you do live near either a dog shelter or tennis court, this project would not be half as difficult. Another donation that dog shelters appreciate is old towels and sheets for the dogs to use as beds. Those can be easier to collect than tennis balls and they are always needed at shelters.
Grading: The projects today will be listed separately, as the pledging project and the tennis ball collection.
Pledging Project
Efficiency: 10
Easiness: 10
Fun: 9
Tennis Ball Collection
Efficiency: 6
Easiness: 4
Fun: 7
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Children for Children
Every year for the past six years on Martin Luther King Day, my family and I go to the annual Children for Children event at a high school near our house. At these events the projects that we do include writing letters to soldiers overseas, making teddy bears for children in the hospital, writing birthday cards for the elderly, and helping to paint murals that go in hospitals. Those are just a few of the activities we have done at the Children for Children events.
Children for Children has planned events each month including one "Service Project of the Month". At the Martin Luther King day event, a lot of the projects have to do with writing letters and doing art projects for various causes. These are projects that are both effective and easy to do. I love bringing friends to the events because everyone can have a good time and it feels great to know that we have made a difference.
Grading: For this project, I will be grading only the Martin Luther King Day event, not the other Children for Children Events.
Effectiveness:7
Easiness:9
Fun: 9
The reason for the 7 in effectiveness is that, while many of the projects at the Martin Luther King Day event are very productive, there are a few that are not truly for community service. For example there was one time-consuming project where you make yourself a beaded pin. If you choose to go to these events one thing to be careful of is how much a given project is actually working for the cause. Other than that Children for Children has a large variety of great projects for kids to do.
The website is http://childrenforchildren.org/
Children for Children has planned events each month including one "Service Project of the Month". At the Martin Luther King day event, a lot of the projects have to do with writing letters and doing art projects for various causes. These are projects that are both effective and easy to do. I love bringing friends to the events because everyone can have a good time and it feels great to know that we have made a difference.
Grading: For this project, I will be grading only the Martin Luther King Day event, not the other Children for Children Events.
Effectiveness:7
Easiness:9
Fun: 9
The reason for the 7 in effectiveness is that, while many of the projects at the Martin Luther King Day event are very productive, there are a few that are not truly for community service. For example there was one time-consuming project where you make yourself a beaded pin. If you choose to go to these events one thing to be careful of is how much a given project is actually working for the cause. Other than that Children for Children has a large variety of great projects for kids to do.
The website is http://childrenforchildren.org/
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Today I am begining my search for 100 community service projects that are effective and easy for a kid to do. I will list one project in each post. These projects include fundraising, volunteer work, raising awareness of important issues, and anything else my friends and I can find. My project for today is a project that I began recently which I call Recycle for the Dogs. In this project, my friends and I have been collecting soda bottles to return to the stores for the 5 cent refund. We then pool all of the money in one big jar and watch as the coins add up. All of the money that we recieve from the bottles will be donated to the ASPCA and Humane Society, organizations that help prevent animal cruelty and run animal shelters.
The project started out slowly, but my friends and I soon discovered that it was useful to collect not only our own bottles, but the bottles in our buildings' recycling bins. After that we got bottles much more quickly. Now three weeks have gone by and we have collected about 15 dollars in bottles alone, plus we collected even more from doing chores and collecting spare change.
This project has been pretty fun and has worked much more efficiently than my friends and I ever thought it would. In terms of how easy it was, collecting at home is very simple, but it gets harder when it comes to collecting the bottles from our whole buildings and returning the bottles to the stores. My building is pretty tall, so collecting from all of the floors was not easy. Returning bottles was the other more challenging part because most stores only take back bottles that they carry. So far though, it has not been too hard and my friends have had fun doing it.
Grading: The grading will be in three categories, how effective, fun, and easy the projects are. The grades are from 1 to 10. A 1 is the least effective, fun, or easy, and a 10 is the most. The effectiveness of a fundraiser will be measured in how much money is made with how many people and how quickly. The fun section is how much we enjoyed the project, and the easiness is how easily a kid can help out.
Effectiveness: 7
Easiness (a larger number is easier): 8
Fun: 8
The project started out slowly, but my friends and I soon discovered that it was useful to collect not only our own bottles, but the bottles in our buildings' recycling bins. After that we got bottles much more quickly. Now three weeks have gone by and we have collected about 15 dollars in bottles alone, plus we collected even more from doing chores and collecting spare change.
This project has been pretty fun and has worked much more efficiently than my friends and I ever thought it would. In terms of how easy it was, collecting at home is very simple, but it gets harder when it comes to collecting the bottles from our whole buildings and returning the bottles to the stores. My building is pretty tall, so collecting from all of the floors was not easy. Returning bottles was the other more challenging part because most stores only take back bottles that they carry. So far though, it has not been too hard and my friends have had fun doing it.
Grading: The grading will be in three categories, how effective, fun, and easy the projects are. The grades are from 1 to 10. A 1 is the least effective, fun, or easy, and a 10 is the most. The effectiveness of a fundraiser will be measured in how much money is made with how many people and how quickly. The fun section is how much we enjoyed the project, and the easiness is how easily a kid can help out.
Effectiveness: 7
Easiness (a larger number is easier): 8
Fun: 8
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